The SMAAAHL's Yorkton RawTec Maulers took on the MMAAAHL's Parkland Rangers in a pair of exhibition games this past weekend in order to better prepare themselves for the 2014-15 SMAAAHL regular season.
The Maulers hosted the Rangers on Friday night at the Farrell Agencies Arena before visiting the Parkland Rangers in Dauphin on Sunday evening, with both games resulting in a Yorkton win, 8-2 in Yorkton and 7-6 in Dauphin.
One sided affair
It was a one sided affair on Friday night at the Farrell Agencies Arena as the Yorkton RawTec Maulers cruised to an 8-2 victory over the visiting Parkland Rangers.
Local Mauler hopeful Derrick Budz, who last season had 12 goals and 15 assists in 26 games for Yorkton in the SBAAHL, led the Yorkton attack with two goals and two assists in the contest while fellow midget rookie and linemate Tristyn DeRoose (29 goals, 22 assists in 30 games for Weyburn, SBAAHL) picked up three helpers in the win.
Logan Casavant (13 goals, 17 assists in 26 games for North East, CFHL Midget) also had a strong game picking up a goal and an assist.
But while the game eventually went in favour of the Maulers, initially it was the Rangers that carried the momentum thanks to an early Connor Dewar goal that put the visitors up 1-0.
However the Maulers ripped the momentum away from the Rangers in one bone crushing second when Kylan Shea (seven goals, nine assists in 32 games for Yorkton, SSMHL Midget) obliterated a Ranger forward along the wall early in the second period.
The hit, which may have registered on the Richter Scale as a small earthquake, fired up the Yorkton bench while instantly deflating a previously pumped up Parkland club.
And while Shea received a two minute minor for interference on the play, the impact he made, both on the game and the opposing player, set the tone for the rest of the way. "That was a huge hit," said RawTec Maulers head coach Dan Cross following the game. "Sometimes you're just going to have to kill penalties off of something like that, but it got a bench going and you could see that the black team (Parkland) weren't too anxious to go into the corners anymore after that."
Shea wasn't the only player to put his body to good use, however. The majority of the Mauler players, rookies, underage players and returnees, were throwing their weight around; something that Cross was excited to see happening. "That's the type of game we want to play and I was extremely happy with these guys," offered Cross, continuing, "these young guys, some of them haven't played in the league before so it was basically their first game for a lot of them at this level and I was very impressed with the effort that was put out and how physical they were."
A few players that particularly impressed Cross in the game were the aforementioned Budz and DeRoose, as well as blueliner Carson Sass (nine goals, 12 assists in 30 games for Melville, SBAAHL) and 6'5" behemoth defenceman Austin Shumanski (three goals, six assists in 31 games for Sask Valley, SBAAHL).
Goaltenders Braxton Stenson (9-5-0, 3.48 GAA, .920 save percentage for Drake, LMMHL Midget) and Carter Park (7-1-1, 3.33 GAA, save percentage N/A, Yorkton, MHL Midget) also showed signs of skill, however they were limited in what they could do due to Parkland's inability to sustain offensive pressure following the Shea hit.
But while they didn't see much action, both goalies still let in a Rangers goal (Connor Dewar scored both) in the game and with the backup goaltender position vacant, both know they have to be on top of their game if they want to outduel each other, as well as Rylan Palchewich and Alex Geddes, in order to crack the final Maulers roster.
And rest assured, the head coach is keeping a close eye on the four remaining goalies in camp. "We need to fill in our backup goalie position and that's a priority," suggested Cross. "Phair (Carter Phair) is going to be our starter this year but we still got a couple of guys we need to take a look at here for the backup spot."
The Maulers were also in action on Sunday evening in Dauphin against the same Parkland Rangers. Logan Casavant continued his strong camp, scoring two goals and assisting on another one while bantam prospect Kaeden Taphorn also had a fine night scoring once and adding two helpers in Yorkton's 7-6 victory.
Next action
The next action for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers will be tonight when they host the Tisdale Trojans in their third of six exhibition games. Puck drop is set for 8:00p.m. at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
The Maulers will also be in action on Sunday when they welcome the Regina Pat Canadians to town for an afternoon affair at the FAA. Game time is scheduled for 2:00p.m.
