I thought they battled really hard and played well as a team...
鈥� Graham Garrett
Maulers head coach
The Yorkton RawTec Maulers got off to a successful start in the 2015 midget 鈥楢AA鈥� preseason last week, skating to a 3-2 win over a veteran-laden Parkland Rangers squad in Dauphin on Wednesday, September 2.
Bantam prospects Aiden Bulych and Kaeden Korczak tallied for the RawTec Maulers, as did first-year midget Keanan Sperling, while Parkland鈥檚 goals came from Dustin Mozden and Jaden Townsend.
Nearly the entire Yorkton roster for the game consisted of second-year bantam and first-year midget players, as head coach Graham Garrett wanted to both give future Mauler hopefuls an opportunity to play and give the veterans and current hopefuls a bit of a rest following a week of rigorous training. 鈥淲e had mostly young players. A lot of bantam kids, 2000鈥檚 and first year midget kids play in the game,鈥� said Garrett, continuing, 鈥淚 thought they battled really hard and played well as a team and just outplayed an older and more experienced club in Dauphin.鈥�
Camp wise the RawTec Maulers still have 29 players (18 forwards, eight defencemen and three goalies) all vying for 20 spots. In addition, many members of the Maulers are currently at SJHL camps with several suiting up this past weekend at both the Terrier and Millionaire camps, while defenceman Austin Shumanski and forward Tristyn DeRoose are also attending SJHL camps. Shumanski is in North Battleford and DeRoose is in Estevan.
However with many decisions yet to be made, some of which are not in his hands, the Maulers head coach is not yet worried with how his team will look come their first regular season game on Sunday, September 27, against Tisdale. 鈥淥nce Junior teams make their decisions then we know what we have coming back and then from there we will be able to make our final decisions,鈥� offered Garrett. 鈥淔or now we鈥檝e got some guys here who are battling and working hard and eventually the decision will work itself out.鈥�
The RawTec Mauler hopefuls will have yet another chance to impress the Mauler brass this Sunday when they visit the Regina Pat Canadians for their second exhibition game of the season.
