The Yorkton RawTec Maulers of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League had an exciting weekend on home ice hosting the Saskatoon Blazers.
The two games played on Saturday and Sunday were as close as possible, both ending in shootouts. And the RawTec Maulers came away with wins after both games.
These wins came after a tough loss on Thursday night, when the Maulers hosted the Regina Pat Canadians at the Farrell Agencies Arena and lost 8-1.
Graham Garrett, head coach of the Maulers, said a bad puck bounce costed them the game.
“I thought we played a good hockey game for the first thirty-five minutes,” he said. “They got a good bounce that went in and we just lost our composure. They scored five goals in a row.”
“We’re a young team that needs to learn how to cope with adversity a little better,” he said.
On Saturday and Sunday, the RawTec Maulers brought some great play to the ice.
After Saturday’s game, the final scoreboard read 2-1 after the shootout. Derrick Budz scored the regulation play goal for the Maulers in the first period, which was matched by the Blazers in the second.
In the overtime period, neither team managed a goal. But in the shootout, Budz did it again. He secured the win for the Maulers by scoring the only goal of the shootout.
On Sunday, the final score was 4-3 for Yorkton.
In the first period, MacKenzie Walkington scored one for the Maulers after the Blazers started the game off with two goals.
Just thirty-five seconds into the second, Zach McIntyre scored again for the Maulers to tie the game 2-2. But later in the second, the Blazers would score to gain the lead again.
In the third period, Mauler Keenan Sperling scored on a powerplay to tie the game again, which is where it would stay for the rest of the regulation time.
The overtime period was scoreless again, which brought the game to another shootout. The Blazers got one goal in, but that wouldn’t be enough to beat the Maulers.
Zach McIntyre and MacKenzie Walkington both scored, which gave the Maulers the win.
After Sunday’s game following the two-game series against the Blazers, Garrett was pleased with the improvement of the team over the weekend at home.
“I thought yesterday we struggled to find any structure. [Goalie] Nolan Maier played great and he was the reason we won yesterday,” said Garrett.
“Today, I thought we were much more structured, much more in control of what we were doing. We created a lot of turnovers, there were a lot of good scoring opportunities. Their goalie played really well today and got a point for them,” he said.
Garrett mentioned Derrick Budz and Mackenzie Walkington as just a couple of his guys who stood out as leaders over the series. He was impressed with their level of play, and said that’s what they need to see more of – guys stepping up and raising the level of play for their lines.
“I thought we were better in Sunday’s game than we were in Saturday’s, and we’re going to have to make sure we’re ready to go for both games when we host for weekend sets,” said Garrett.
“Winning a couple of games here at home is huge for us, it gets us back into that playoff position where we need to be.”
The RawTec Maulers will be on the road for the next ten days, but will return to the Farrell Agencies Arena on Saturday, Dec. 10 and Sunday, Dec. 11 where they will host a two-game series against the Battlefords Stars.
