Mired in a four game losing streak, the Yorkton RawTec Maulers were hoping that a weekend double dip with the in flux Prince Albert Mintos would be enough to get them back on the winning track.
By the end of the weekend their hopes had turned to reality, as the Maulers hammered the visiting Mintos and their new coaching staff in back-to-back games, picking up a big 6-2 win on Saturday afternoon at the Farrell Agencies Arena before dismantling the Mintos 9-1 the following day.
RawTec Mauler leading scorer Damian Bentz had two goals and two assists in Saturday鈥檚 win while both Brett Kemp and Derrick Budz had one goal and two assists.
Mauler captain Carson Sass also found the back of the net on the night, as did second year Mauler Tristyn DeRoose the latter of which has recently found his offensive game. 鈥淗e鈥檚 finally establishing an understanding of himself as a power forward, net presence guy,鈥� said RawTec Mauler head coach Graham Garrett on DeRoose. 鈥淗e鈥檚 got four or five tip-in goals this past month which are goals that he didn鈥檛 have before Christmas.
鈥淗e鈥檚 established himself and sometimes for those big, tough players it takes some time for them to create that room and space, but he鈥檚 done the things that are needed to be done to create that time and space and when he has it, he鈥檚 got the skill and the speed to do things with the puck.鈥�
Jordan Schmuland was in net in the 6-2 win stopping 21 shots for the victory while Jake Davidson took the loss for the Mintos turning aside 18 shots.
The following day saw the two teams meet up for a rematch, and just like Saturday it didn鈥檛 take long for the Yorkton offence to go to work.
Four goals in the first period, one each by Drayson Skulmoski, Kaeden Taphorn, DeRoose and Kemp, gave the RawTec Maulers a lead that they would only continue to add to in the second and third periods, with DeRoose netting his second of the game and Bentz finding the scoreboard as well.
Kemp, meanwhile, added three more goals and picked up one assist for a five point night, giving him 41 for the season. 鈥淚 think it was just one of those games where you get the lucky bounces and things go in,鈥� mentioned the rookie Mauler, adding that his linemates deserve a lot of credit for his performance as well. 鈥淚 think all my goals were assisted by either Bentz or Budz so the linemates definitely helped for sure and without them I probably wouldn鈥檛 have done as well as I did.鈥�
The two wins see the Maulers (23-13-2) move back into a home ice advantage playoff spot for the time being, tied with the Tisdale Trojans (22-10-4) for third/fourth place with 48 points, just one point up on the Notre Dame Hounds (23-13-1, 47 pts) and two back of the second place Moose Jaw Generals (23-9-4, 50 pts).
Regina (26-7-4) continues to lead the SMAAAHL with 56 points, while the two losses see the Mintos鈥� record fall to 19-16-2 and sixth place.
The streaking Saskatoon Blazers (19-18-1) and Battlefords Stars (18-17-3) find themselves tied for the final two playoff spots at 39 points each, five points ahead of Beardy鈥檚 (16-19-2, 34 pts).
The Saskatoon Contacts (14-21-2, 30 pts) are nine points out of a playoff spot and on the verge of missing the postseason while the 11th place Notre Dame Argos (10-22-2) are on the verge of being officially eliminated from playoff contention and joining the last place Swift Current Legionnaires (8-28-1, 17 pts) as teams looking to play spoiler.
Next action
The Yorkton RawTec Maulers were in Wilcox last night (Tuesday) to play the Notre Dame Argos, however results were unavailable at press time. The next home action for the Maulers will be tomorrow (Thursday) when they host those same Argos. Game time is set for 8:00p.m. at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
The Maulers will then take to the road this weekend for a pair of games with the bottom dwelling Swift Current Legionnaires.
