Thanks to a pair of weekend wins the Yorkton RawTec Maulers have climbed in their league standings.
The Maulers sit sixth with 39 points based on a record of 17-15-2-3, one point better than the Saskatoon Contacts and 13 back of fifth place Swift Current. The Notre Dame Hounds lead the Saskatchewan AAA Midget Hockey League with 72 points, seven up on Regina. Prince Albert resides in third, with Tisdale fourth.
On Saturday, the goals came often at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
Ryder Pierson opened the scoring for the home team 1:14 into the game, but Rhett Gibson tied the score to leave the score 1-1 through 20-minutes.
Reid Arnold scored 2:04 into the second to again give the Maulers a lead. This time Riley Delowny responded for the Legionnaires to tie the game.
Beau Stevenson would make it 3-2 Yorkton, with Ty Muench tying the game 1:41 later, then 52-seconds later Hunter Lamb on the powerplay gave Swift Current its first lead of the contest 4-3. This time the Maulers would respond as Jordan Repsch scored with 36-seconds left in the second period for a 4-4 tie.
Aiden Bulych gave Yorkton another one-goal lead in the third, only to have Jacob Piller score with 1:10 left in the game to knot the score 5-5 and send the contest to overtime.
With 57-seconds left in the extra frame Bulych would score his second of the contest to give Yorkton a 6-5 win.
Steven Duchscher was tagged with the loss in the Swift Current loss facing 42 shots, while Jordan Schmuland had the win for Yorkton facing 34.
Sunday afternoon, when the teams met again in the city, the defences played a greater role.
After a scoreless opening period, Jackson Berezowski finally gave the home side a lead with a short-handed goal with only 3:49 remaining in the second period.
In the third it took only 46-seconds for Aiden Bulych to make it 2-0 as he scored a powerplay marker.
The Legionnaires got back into the contest as Jacob Piller broke the Yorkton shut-out bid with a powerplay goal with only 7:25 left in the game.
But Jordan Schmuland would salt away a Mauler win with an unassisted goal into an empty net with only nine seconds left on the clock for a 3-1 win.
Dakota Berezowski faced 10-shots in a period of work, combining with Jordan Schmuland facing 27 in two periods to backstop the Yorkton win in net.
Cody Levesque took the loss for Swift Current facing 33.
Rawlick said after being shut-out earlier in the week, the effort against Swift Current, a team higher than the Maulers in the league standings, was gratifying.
鈥淔or six periods we were incredible,鈥� he said of the weekend set against the Legionnaires, adding it was quite likely the best start-to-finish effort by the team all year.
With the playoffs drawing nearer Rawlick said he was encouraged by the effort. He said 鈥渢o make some noise鈥� in the playoffs from the lower rungs of the seeding a team has to rise to the occasion against the better teams. A recent pair of overtime games versus Prince Albert, and the weekend wins over Swift Current show the Maulers can do that on nights when the effort is there.
Last Thursday
The Notre Dame Hounds rolled into Yorkton for a contest Feb. 1, and dominated from the outset.
Luke Mylymok of the Hounds scored 4:04 into the contest to give Notre Dame the lead.
Fifty-one seconds later Adan Gunn made it 2-0, and 1:46 after that Mylymok made it 3-0, a margin which held through the first period.
In the second Cody Lehner and Cordel Larson on the powerplay extended the lead to 5-0 for the visitors, a score which held through the third.
Dakota Berezowki started in the Mauler nets facing 20-shots and allowing all five goals before being pulled in favour of Jordan Schmuland who faced 16 in finishing the contest.
Riley Kohonick earned the shut-out for the Hounds facing 26-shots.
Rawlick said the Maulers never seemed focused in the game, in particular early on, and that meant trouble against the league鈥檚 best team, but he didn鈥檛 use that as an excuse.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no excuse for coming into a game like that,鈥� he said.
Rawlick then tipped his hats to the Hounds.
鈥淣otre Dame is good. They were very good that night,鈥� he said, adding while the Maulers nearly matched them in shots, it came down to chances. On four of the Hound goals Notre Dame 鈥渉ad guys going to the net and we didn鈥檛 pick them up.鈥�
Up next
Tonight (Wednesday), the Maulers host the Tisdale Trojans at the Farrell Agencies Arena at 8 p.m.
On the weekend the Battleford Stars will visit the Maulers, with an 8 p.m. start Saturday, and a 4 p.m. start Sunday.
