Needing a win to stay in the upper echelon of SMAAAHL playoff-bound teams, the Yorkton RawTec Maulers welcomed the league-leading Regina Pat Canadians to the Farrell Agencies Arena last Wednesday night for their lone game of the week.
The Pat C鈥檚 scored the only goal of the opening frame on Wednesday, opening the scoring midway through the first period when rookie Carson Focht ripped a shot past Mauler goaltender Jordan Schmuland on the power play for a 1-0 Regina lead.
Second year Mauler forward Tristyn DeRoose brought Yorkton even with 8:01 remaining in the second period with his 12th goal of the season, but with less than two minutes left in the middle period Regina would regain their lead as Turner Ripplinger鈥檚 19th of the season found its way past Schmuland for what ultimately ended up as the game winning goal.
Regina鈥檚 Curtis Meger turned aside 24-of-25 Mauler shots on goal while Schmuland turned in his sixth consecutive two goals against performance but still shouldered the loss stopping 21 shots. 鈥淗e probably deserved better,鈥� said RawTec Mauler head coach Graham Garrett on his young goalie. 鈥淭he last six games he鈥檚 played he鈥檚 only let in two goals no more, no less. When you鈥檙e getting goaltending like that you need to score a couple more to get wins but we haven鈥檛 been able to do that.鈥�
Garrett says that his team has struggled offensively as of late; a direct result of not wanting to go to the tough areas in front of the opposing teams net. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just about shooting and getting traffic to the net,鈥� said Garrett, adding that his team has been streaky this year, scoring in bunches and then struggling to score. 鈥淲e need to get some net presence and get in the goaltender鈥檚 way so that he can鈥檛 see the puck and make him uncomfortable.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檝e done that very well all year and it鈥檚 something that we鈥檝e been working on and when it comes time in the playoffs, hopefully we鈥檒l understand that concept a little bit more and get it done.鈥�
The loss drops the RawTec Maulers out of the top four teams in the SMAAAHL and into fifth with a record of 21-12-2 for 44 points, tied with the Tisdale Trojans (20-9-4) but with two less games remaining in the season.
Regina (24-7-4) continues to lead the way with 52 points, five up on the second place Notre Dame Hounds (23-13-1, 47 points) and six ahead of the third place Moose Jaw Generals (21-8-4).
Prince Albert (19-14-2) sits in sixth with 40 points, five up on seventh place Battlefords (16-17-3, 35 points) and seven clear of the eighth place Saskatoon Blazers (16-18-1, 33 points).
The Beardy鈥檚 Blackhawks (15-17-2) are one point out of the playoffs in ninth with 32 points while the Saskatoon Contacts (14-19-2) are three back of the final playoff spot with 30 points.
The Notre Dame Argos (10-19-2) sit well back in 11th place with 22 points while the Swift Current Legionnaires (8-26-1) are alone in the basement with 17 points.
Up next
The next action for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers (21-12-2) will be tomorrow (Thursday) when they travel to Moose Jaw for a very important game with the Generals (21-8-4). A win will see the Maulers leapfrog Tisdale and into a tie with Moose Jaw for third in the league while a loss will see the Maulers fall even further back of home ice advantage in round one of the playoffs.
The next home action for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers will be this weekend as they welcome the Prince Albert Mintos (19-14-2) for a pair of weekend games on Saturday and Sunday. Both games are set for a 2:00p.m. start.
