The Yorkton RawTec Maulers fell just short of one of their season goals, finishing in fifth place overall after a 3-1 loss to the Regina Pat Canadians in their final regular season game last Wednesday at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
Lukas Sillinger, Thomas Goldade and Randen Schmidt combined to score all three of Regina鈥檚 goals in the game while Yorkton鈥檚 lone marker came from defenceman Cody Dubas.
Regina鈥檚 Curtis Meger picked up the win for the first place Pat Canadians, stopping 20-of-21 Yorkton shots while Jordan Schmuland turned aside 23-of-26 Regina attempts in the loss.
The final game loss sees the Maulers finish with a final record of 25-14-5 for 55 points, three points back of both home ice advantage in the first round and the fourth place Notre Dame Hounds (28-14-3, 58 pts), who the Maulers will meet in the first round of the SMAAAHL playoffs.
Playoff preview
With the regular season a distant memory, the Yorkton RawTec Maulers now get ready for the playoffs, where they鈥檒l take on the pesky Notre Dame Hounds.
Both the Maulers and Hounds bring similar things to the table as the two teams finished one and two respectively in SMAAAHL scoring with the Hounds netting 182 goals while Yorkton scored 166. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very similar teams, so I think we match up very well with them,鈥� offered Mauler head coach Graham Garrett, adding that because the two teams are so similar, the Olympic sized ice surface in Wilcox won鈥檛 give the Hounds the usual advantage they have over opponents. 鈥淲e鈥檙e both fast, skilled teams so the bigger ice surface will allow our quicker and more skilled guys to have that open ice as well.鈥�
The one difference between the two teams is that Yorkton comes into the series with a four game losing streak while Notre Dame has won five of their last six games.
According to Garrett however, the four straight losses - three of which were in the shootout 鈥� does not mean that the Maulers are entering the postseason on a slide. 鈥淵ou can say we finished the season on a slide, but really we got points in seven of our last eight games,鈥� offered the Mauler head coach. 鈥淚 think that you can look at it and say that we lost the last four games because we did, but in my mind we got points in seven of the last eight games and that鈥檚 good.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e going in on a bit of a slide, I think we鈥檙e going into the playoffs knowing that we have the opportunity to have a mini upset and that will be our focus.鈥�
Offensively the Maulers will look to their impressive depth with seven different players scoring 12 or more goals lead by Damian Bentz鈥檚 29.
Bentz also lead the Maulers with 53 points (29 goals, 24 assists), closely followed by rookie Brett Kemp (20 goals, 31 assists) and second year forward Derrick Budz (16 goals, 31 assists).
Team captain Carson Sass (8 goals, 16 assists) anchors the Mauler defence while rookie goaltender Jordan Schmuland (19-8-5, 2.51 GAA, .912 save percentage) will most likely see the bulk of the playing time in the playoffs.
Notre Dame meanwhile, is led offensively by Adam Dawe (30 goals, 24 assists), Lucas Fraulin (23 goals, 24 assists) and Jared Power (23 goals, 21 assists). In net the Hounds have used both Reid Cooper and Tanner Douglas nearly evenly, with Cooper going 17-9-1 with a 2.52 GAA and a .918 save percentage while Douglas posted a record of 11-6-0 with a 3.27 GAA and a .882 save percentage.
Game One of the series takes place this Saturday in Wilcox at 7:00p.m., with Game Two Sunday night at 7:30p.m. at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
The two teams return to Wilcox for Game Three on Tuesday, March 1 (8:00p.m.) with Game Four on Wednesday, March 2 (7:30p.m.) and Game Five Friday, March 4 (8:00p.m.). Both Game Four and Five will only take place if needed.
Other SMAAAHL playoff action sees the top seeded Regina Pat Canadians take on the eighth place Battlefords Stars, the second place Moose Jaw Generals host the Beardy鈥檚 Blackhawks and the third place Tisdale Trojans welcome the sixth seeded Prince Albert Mintos.
