The Yorkton RawTec Maulers looked to do something that has been nearly impossible for them to do in recent years this past weekend: pick up a victory in North Battleford.
They did just that on Saturday night at the North Battleford Civic Centre, storming out to a five goal lead before holding off a dangerous Battlefords Stars attack to pick up a 5-3 win.
Damian Bentz gave Yorkton the 1-0聽 lead just 1:53 into the game when he took advantage of a Battlefords too many men penalty and beat Stars鈥� netminder Lance Alm for a Yorkton powerplay goal.
Bentz continued his special teams prowess later in the period when 鈥� this time shorthanded 鈥� he scored his second of the game to make it 2-0 Yorkton.
Kylan Shea鈥檚 first goal of the season just over five minutes into the second period gave the RawTec Maulers a three goal lead before a pair of goals by rookies 鈥� one by Beau Stevenson and the other off the stick of Brett Kemp 鈥� gave Yorkton a 5-0 lead.
A momentary lapse in concentration provided the Stars an opportunity to find the scoreboard; something they did three times before the end of the period as Dawson Bacon, Kent Hanson and J.C. Dubecky all found a way to put the puck past Yorkton goaltender Jordan Schmuland to narrow the Yorkton advantage to just two at 5-3.
The Stars looked to take advantage of their late second period success in the third, however it was the Maulers that carried the flow of play for the final 20 minutes as Yorkton skated to an eventual 5-3 win.
Alm took the loss in the Battlefords net stopping 24-of-29 Yorkton shots while Yorkton rookie Schmuland was solid, turning aside 27-of-30 shots for his third win of the season. 鈥淗e鈥檚 doing what we鈥檝e asked of him,鈥� said RawTec Mauler head coach Graham Garrett following the game. 鈥淗e came in here to be our starter and he鈥檚 3-0 to start the season so that鈥檚 huge for him.鈥�
Garrett also mentioned that he felt his team played a solid 54 minute game, but nearly gave it away in the six minutes they took off. 鈥淚 think we obviously came out very strong and had a 5-0 lead, then went to sleep for five minutes and they came back. We can鈥檛 let that happen,鈥� said the Mauler bench boss, adding that his team was able to buckle down in the third to pick up the win. 鈥淲e were able to regroup between the second and third and come out for the third period and shut it down for 20 minutes for the victory, but like I said, we have to play a full 60 minute game because you can see tonight what can happen if you take time off.鈥�
Sunday loss
The Yorkton RawTec Maulers looked to continue their impressive start to the 2015/16 season Sunday afternoon in North Battleford, however a disastrous third period resulted in a blowout loss, 8-2 to the Battlefords Stars.
A pair of Tanner Brewster goals in the first period gave the Stars a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Battlefords added to their lead early in the second period as Keelan Saworski put the puck past Alex Geddes for a 3-0 lead, however two Yorkton goals, one by rookie Carson Miller and the other from Drayson Skulmoski, cut the Stars lead to just one after 40 minutes of play.
A strong start to the third period made it seem as if the RawTec Maulers were destined to tie the game, however a J.C. Dubecky goal just before the midway point of the period gave the host Stars a 4-2 lead and opened the floodgates, resulting in four more Battlefords goals to round out an 8-2 road loss for the Maulers.
Geddes took the loss despite playing well for much of the game, stopping 32-of-40 Star shots while Jake Taylor picked up the win brushing aside 33-of-35 Mauler opportunities.
鈥淚 think we showed good character that when we went down by three we were able to come back to within one goal,鈥� said Garrett on his team鈥檚 second period comeback. 鈥淚 think we had a lot of opportunities to tie up the game and make it 3-3.
鈥淯nfortunately we couldn鈥檛 take advantage of any of those opportunities and once we gave up the fourth goal it seemed to deflate us and take our focus away from what we needed to do and it finished up pretty ugly.鈥�
But while the 8-2 loss is certainly a painful defeat, Garrett acknowledged that his team can鈥檛 win every game, and that the RawTec Maulers鈥� hot start to the 2015/16 SMAAAHL season has been nothing if not positive. 鈥淥bviously it鈥檚 a good start for us. The Battlefords have been a tough place to win for the last few years for all teams, so for us to go in there and get a split, you can鈥檛 be too upset with it,鈥� said Garrett. 鈥淲e had an opportunity to win the second game as well so we have to be happy with the effort all around for the first five games.鈥�
Next action
The RawTec Maulers (4-1-0) welcomed the Tisdale Trojans (2-2-2) to the Farrell Agencies Arena last night for their third meeting of the season, however results were unavailable at press time.
The next action for the RawTec Maulers will be this weekend when they welcome the Swift Current Legionnaires (3-1-0) to town for a pair of games. Saturday the two teams meet at the Farrell Agencies Arena at 8:00p.m. before doing it all again Sunday afternoon for a 2:00p.m. start.
