Rookie Carson Miller led the way with a goal and two assists and RawTec Mauler veteran Tristyn DeRoose scored twice in the first period as the Yorkton RawTec Maulers got off to a hot start in the Saskatchewan Midget 鈥楢AA鈥� Hockey League, trouncing the visiting Tisdale Trojans 6-1 Sunday afternoon at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
The Maulers wasted little time in establishing their dominance Sunday afternoon, opening the scoring just 34 seconds into the game when DeRoose banged a loose puck past Tisdale goaltender Kye Steinke for a 1-0 Yorkton lead.
Yorkton continued to carry the flow of the play for the next few minutes, but a Carson Miller tripping penalty gave the Trojan powerplay a chance to even the score; a chance they did not take for granted as Wyatt Riendeau blasted the puck past a screened Jordan Schmuland to tie the game up at 1-1.
A tie that lasted for just over two minutes, when Miller redeemed himself with a powerplay goal of his own, dancing around a Tisdale defenceman and snapping the puck high blocker side past Steinke for a 2-1 Yorkton advantage.
DeRoose鈥檚 second goal of the period on a shorthanded breakaway made it a two goal lead for the Maulers, which proved to be more than enough as Schmuland shut the door the rest of the way, turning aside 21-of-22 Tisdale shots for his first career SMAAAHL victory, while the Maulers added a pair of second period goals 鈥� one each by Kaeden Taphorn and Keanan Sperling - and a third period marker off the stick of Derrick Budz to round out a convincing 6-1 win. 鈥淚t feels great. It鈥檚 good to see the guys come together early in the season here,鈥� offered DeRoose, who had his game cut short midway through the first period after he ran over Tisdale鈥檚 Kristopher Bzdel and was ejected on a head contact penalty. 鈥淚t鈥檚 big to get the first win of the season out of the way here against them (Tisdale). Everyone knows we have a bit of a rivalry with them, so beating them is great.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e known as a top team in the league so beating them gets our name out there and it鈥檚 awesome.鈥�
RawTec Mauler head coach Graham Garrett also acknowledged that getting a win over the Trojans is a good way to start the season, but said that the most important part about the 6-1 win was the positivity on the bench from the opening faceoff onwards. 鈥淭he team has bonded really well and I think in the first game just all of those types of things played a huge part in getting a huge team win,鈥� offered Garrett. 鈥淭he guys were on the same page and the attitudes that have come in here have been very positive from everyone through the leaders to all of the new guys.鈥�
Speaking of the new guys, Garrett felt that the rookies 鈥� who make up nearly half the Mauler roster 鈥� showed that just because they鈥檙e younger doesn鈥檛 mean they鈥檙e less skilled. 鈥淭hese are guys that are very good hockey players. They鈥檙e going to have a learning curve and it might take a little bit to get adjusted in this league, but these guys are young players that are used to winning,鈥� mentioned the RawTec Mauler bench boss, continuing, 鈥淭hey know how to win and they come with a skillset that is as good or better than other guys in the league.
鈥淭heir ability and their commitment to their goals is second to none and this doesn鈥檛 change just because they鈥檙e in a new league.鈥�
Garrett then mentioned that the depth of the RawTec Maulers will be a key to continued success throughout the season; something that was on display once DeRoose was ejected from the contest. 鈥淒eRoose getting kicked out, well that just shows the depth of this team,鈥� said Garrett. 鈥淵ou lose a guy that scored a couple of goals and was throwing some big hits, you lose him for over two periods, that could bring some guys down, but we have so much leadership聽 and skill right now in our room and positive things going around that the guys didn鈥檛 really skip a beat.鈥�
Next up
The Yorkton RawTec Maulers鈥� next action will be Friday, October 2, when they travel to Tisdale for a rematch against the Trojans. Game time at the Tisdale Recplex is set for 8:00pm.
