A three goal first period by the visiting Tisdale Trojans took the wind out of the Yorkton RawTec Mauler sails resulting in an eventual 4-1 loss on Thursday, October 9 at Yorkton's Farrell Agencies Arena.
The loss is the third in a row for the Maulers, who fall to 1-4-0-0 on the season and still sit tied for ninth through to eleventh place in the 12-team SMAAAHL with the Swift Current Legionnaires (1-5-0-0) and Saskatoon Blazers (1-2-0-0) respectively.
Tisdale, meanwhile, remained perfect in league play moving to 4-0-0-0 and first place with eight points.
The visiting Trojans opened the scoring less than four minutes into the game when Drew Warkentine beat Carter Phair to make it 1-0.
The Trojans made it 2-0 just over two minutes later on a Kalem Zary goal before rounding out the first period scoring with a Tanner Nagel goal to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
Devin Gerwing gave the visitors a four goal lead just five minutes into the second frame when, with Mauler defenceman Austin Shumanski in the penalty box for hooking, he too beat Phair to make it 4-0.
Yorkton's Cole Keenleyside broke the Justen Close shutout bid with just 19 seconds remaining in the game, but it was too little and far too late as the Maulers fell 4-1 to the Tisdale Trojans.
Carter Phair shouldered the loss for the RawTec Maulers stopping 27-of-31 shots while Justen Close turned aside the first 16 Yorkton shots of the game.
Following the game Mauler head coach Dan Cross said that his team is simply not getting the puck luck that the opposition has been getting so far this season, but believes that eventually the pucks will bounce in and when it does, the RawTec Maulers will be fine.
Cross also believes that his team, who is beginning to show signs of improvement, will improve tenfold once two key veterans able to return to the lineup, one from injury the other from suspension. "Right now we're still down Damian Bentz and Logan Leslie and that's a couple of big holes in our lineup," offered the Mauler bench boss. "We could use both of them because they're two of our fastest guys, they're both veteran players and two of the more dominant players in the league.
"Once they're back though we'll be fine."
In fact Cross anticipates that Leslie, who is nursing some nagging injuries, could be ready for their next game thanks to a week off due to Thanksgiving break.
Bentz, meanwhile, will be eligible to return to the RawTec Mauler lineup as early as Saturday, October 25 when the Maulers take on the National champion Prince Albert Raiders in their ninth game of the season at the Art Hauser Centre.
Next action
The next action for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers (1-4-0-0) will be this weekend when they continue their season high six game home stand with a pair of game against the Saskatoon Blazers.
Game One on Saturday will begin at 7:30p.m. while Game Two will be Sunday at 2:00p.m.
Both games will be held at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
