It was a difficult road trip for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers who dropped a pair of Saskatchewan AAA Midget Hockey League games.
Friday the Maulers were in Prince Albert to face the Mintos, scoring first when Massen Ziola put one in on the powerplay 2:53 into the second period.
Unfortunately it would be the only goal Yorkton could muster.
Meanwhile the Mintos took control of the contest with four goals in the first period to lead 4-1 after 40-minutes.
Prince Albert added two more in the third to round out a 6-1 win.
Aiden Elmy was in the Yorkton net for the loss facing 51-shots.
Saturday Yorkton was in Saskatoon to face the league鈥檚 top team; the Blazers.
The game played out much as you might expect when a top team takes on the basement dweller.
The Blazers scored one in the first, added three in the second, then piled on four more in the third while holding the Maulers scoreless for an 8-0 win.
Brett Mirwald recorded the shut-out with the league website recording only 11 Yorkton shots.
Kael DePape took the loss for Yorkton facing 51.
鈥淚t was a bit of a tough weekend,鈥� said interim head coach Dalane Lamb.
But the Mauler coach stayed generally positive about his team.
鈥淲e had a good first 20-minutes in both games which was definitely good to see out of the club,鈥� said Lamb.
By Saturday鈥檚 game the situation was made more difficult as three Mauler defencemen were out of the line-up and one forward pushed into service on the blue line. Lamb said while the forward was steady, missing regulars on defence on a team that already gives up a lot of goals did not help.
Offensively the Maulers appeared to struggle on the weekend, but Lamb said some of it was just not getting the break.
鈥淲e had our chances. We had a number of two-on-ones and three-on-twos,鈥� he said.
And as the misses mounted Lamb said players started to press which only compounded the problem.
鈥淭hey were trying to do a little bit too much to get the goal to get the team back in the game,鈥� he said.
Yorkton heads to Regina to face the Pat Canadians Friday in their final game of 2018.
Lamb said after the game in Regina the team will head home for the holidays which will give the Maulers a chance to relax and refocus a little.
鈥淕oing home at Christmas time is always good. It鈥檚 always nice to have that home cooking,鈥� he said, adding 鈥淚 think the guys will come back rejuvenated after Christmas.鈥�
