The Yorkton RawTec Maulers played host to the SMAAAHL's second place Saskatoon Contacts this past weekend for a pair of games at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
Saturday's game was one that the Maulers would like to forget as a late third period collapse led to a 6-5 overtime loss.
However the Maulers rebounded to take three of a possible four points from one of the top teams in the league, downing the Contacts 4-2 on Sunday afternoon.
The three points move the Yorkton Maulers (9-7-2) to within four points of the sixth place Prince Albert Mintos (10-4-4) and five points up on eighth place Beardy's (7-10-1).
Tisdale continues to lead the SMAAAHL with a sparkling record of 15-1-2 and 32 points while the Notre Dame Hounds (13-3-0), Battlefords Stars (13-5-0) and Saskatoon Contacts (12-6-2) all sit tied for second with 26 points.
Giving away a W
"You're welcome."
That could be a quote from any one of the Yorkton RawTec Mauler players following Saturday's heartbreaking 6-5 overtime loss to the visiting Saskatoon Contacts in which the Maulers simply handed over a sure victory to the visiting club.
Leading 4-1 with less than 10 minutes left on goals by Logan Casavant, Tyler Stratechuk, Carson Welke and Drayson Skulmoski, it seemed as if the Yorkton RawTec Maulers had victory within their grasp.
But then, with just under nine minutes remaining in the game, Yorkton's McKenzie Welke was sent to the penalty box for slashing.
Saskatoon's Kole Lind would find the back of the net for the second Contact power play goal of the game to cut the Mauler lead to two at 4-2.
Two more Mauler penalties resulted in two more Contact goals, however sandwiched in between the two Saskatoon tallies was Carson Welke's second of the game to ensure that the Maulers still remained ahead at 5-4.
But the Contacts aren't one of the top teams in the league for nothing, as Lind once again beat Carter Phair, this time to tie the game and send it into overtime where the Contacts completed the comeback on Dawson Holt's second of the game with just 26 seconds remaining in overtime.
Phair took the loss for the Maulers stopping 32-of-38 shots while Declan Hobbs found the win column, turning aside 27-of-32 Mauler attempts.
"We just took undisciplined penalties and it killed us," said a disappointed Mauler head coach Dan Cross following the game. "They're a good team and they've got that one real powerhouse of a line that scores the majority of their goals.
"We just let them into it and sort of had a falling apart and gave it to them."
Complete 60
Saturday's game saw the Maulers outplay the Contacts for 50 minutes of a 60 minute hockey game, only to give up a big lead late and lose in overtime.
On Sunday the RawTec Maulers made sure that Saturday's performance was not going to be repeated.
Despite Saskatoon's Jimmy Lambert scoring just 19 seconds into the game, it was the Maulers that carried the flow of play, peppering Saskatoon netminder Isaac LaBelle with 13 shots in the opening 20 minutes compared to the six that Saskatoon directed towards Phair.
The Maulers carried their momentum over into the second period, where they scored three goals, two by defenceman-turned-forward Tyler Stratechuk and one by veteran Koal Roberts to take a 3-1 lead into the third and final period.
A fourth RawTec Mauler goal, this one from the stick of blueliner Logan Karakochuk, made it 4-1 before a late third period Contact power play goal by Garrett Pilon made it a 4-2 final.
Phair, who rebounded from a less-than-Phairish start on Saturday to take player of the game honours on Sunday, turned aside 30-of-32 Contact shots for his sixth win of the season. "Yesterday he (Phair) said that he should have had a few of them and for him to come back and play like he can and should, I was happy for him," mentioned head coach Dan Cross. "He's a great goalie and everyone had a kerfuffle yesterday so it's not on him by any means.
"But today, that's what we need from him."
Cross then mentioned that, although the team has been playing well as of late they are still struggling offensively, scoring just 54 goals so far this season, fourth lowest in the 12-team SMAAAHL.
So to try and rustle up some offence, Cross decided to switch forward Brennan Watson with the aforementioned defenceman Stratechuk with the hopes that the offensively talented rearguard would spark the offence.
And so far the decision looks pretty good with Stratechuk netting three goals over the weekend including the game winner on Sunday. "He's just got a knack from around the net and he can shoot," offered Cross on Stratechuk. "He seems a little more comfortable but we'll see. So far he's making me look good with that decision and I'm happy."
Stratechuk too is happy with the new role, although he does admit that it wasn't something he had expected. "It was a surprise that they moved me up," said the first year midget player. "I didn't think I was going to go play forward but he (Dan Cross) asked me if I wanted to go up front and I said yes because I wanted to see how it would go.
"To be honest looks really good right now. Started off with three goals in two games so we'll see how Wednesday goes."
Next action
The next action for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers (9-7-2) will be tonight (Wednesday) when they travel to Tisdale to take on former teammate Tyler Kreklewich and the league leading Tisdale Trojans (15-1-2) at 7:30p.m.
The Mauler will then travel to Wilcox for an 8:00p.m. date with the Notre Dame Hounds (13-3-0) on Saturday night before returning home to face the Regina Pat Canadians (12-3-1) on Tuesday, December 2 at 8:00p.m. at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
