He’s been almost unbelievable here in these last couple of weeks and that’s good for him.
— Graham Garrett
RawTec Mauler head coach
The Yorkton RawTec Maulers hosted the Notre Dame Argos at the Farrell Agencies Arena last Wednesday, using a pair of third period goals to come from behind and down the Argos 4-3 in their only SMAAAHL action of the week.
The win improves the RawTec Maulers’ record to 9-2-1, good enough for 19 points and second place in the 12-team midget ‘AAA’ league, one point back of the league-leading Moose Jaw Generals (9-1-2) and one up on third place Tisdale (8-2-2).
Prince Albert (8-3-0) sits in fourth with 16 points, Regina (7-4-1) is fifth with 15, while the Notre Dame Hounds hold down sixth spot with a record of 5-4-1 and 11 points.
Both Beardy’s (5-6-1) and the Saskatoon Contacts (5-7-1) also have 11 points while holding down seventh and eighth place, while the Battlefords Stars are just one point back in ninth with a record of 4-4-2.
Swift Current (4-8-0) sits in 10th with eight points; the Saskatoon Blazers (3-7-0) are 11th with six points and the Notre Dame Argos hold down the bottom spot with a record of 1-8-1 and three points.
Yorkton opened the game by peppering Notre Dame starting goaltender Riley Higdon with a barrage of shots, but it wasn’t until the 13:33 mark of the opening frame when the Maulers finally found the scoreboard as RawTec Mauler captain Carson Sass fired his fourth goal of the season past Higdon for a 1-0 Yorkton lead.
The power play goal proved to be the only marker of the opening period, but a pair of Yorkton penalties in the second period – one each to Derrick Budz (high sticking) and Sass (tripping) – resulted in a prolonged 5-on-3 power play for the Argos that the visiting team took full advantage of when Russian import Artem Chupin used the extra space to put the puck past Jordan Schmuland and tie the game at one just 2:27 into the second period.
Penalties once again cost the RawTec Maulers in the second frame when the Argos again capitalized on a two man advantage, this time getting a goal from Leighton Burns-Marion midway through the period to give the visitors a 2-1 lead; however the Argos weren’t angels either as they too took a couple of undisciplined penalties to go down two men late in the period.
Captain Mauler made them pay once more as Sass beat Higdon for his second power play goal of the night that evened the game at two goals apiece, but a Dylan Soosay goal with just 49 seconds left in the period gave the visiting team a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes of play.
The Argo one goal advantage lasted for a total of 2:11 playing time, as AP call up Josh Rohatynsky made his presence felt, putting the puck past Higdon to once again bring the Maulers even at 3-3 on their first shot of the period.
The game remained locked at three for much of the third period until the final shot of the night, when veteran Mauler forward Drayson Skulmoski found a way to put the puck past Higdon after a flurry of chances and with just 13 seconds remaining in the game the RawTec Maulers took the lead and ultimately the win 4-3.
Schmuland picked up his seventh win of the season turning aside 18-of-21 Argo shots while Higdon did all he could to give his team the victory but in the end had to settle for a loss stopping 29-of-33 Yorkton chances.
Sass led all Maulers on the night with two goals and since opening the season pointless in his first seven games he now has nine points - five goals and four assists - over his last five games. “He definitely had a rough start to the season with pucks not going in for him or assists not being given to him,” said RawTec Mauler head coach Graham Garrett on his captain. “He was doing everything right and he wasn’t getting the payoff, and now he’s getting the payoff and it’s like he’s exploded here in these last two weeks.
“He’s been almost unbelievable here in these last couple of weeks and that’s good for him.”
But while Garrett says he’s happy to see Sass finally get out of the gate offensively, one thing he’s not happy about is the lack of discipline his team has shown at times, such as the second period. “Discipline is so key, especially at our level as everyone has some gifted offensive players, and especially when you’re taking long 5-on-3’s that’s dangerous,” offered Garrett. “Those are tough to kill off, especially when they’re over a minute long and you just can’t put yourself in that situation so that’s something that we have to work on over the next week here at the Kinsmen Arena.”
Next action
The next action for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers will be this weekend when they hit the road to take on the Beardy’s Blackhawks (5-6-1) on Saturday and Saskatoon Blazers (3-7-0) on Sunday.
The Maulers will see their roster bolstered by the return of five players for the road trip as Carson Miller, Brett Kemp, Kaleb Bulych and Keenan and Kaeden Taphorn will be back after spending last week at the 2015 Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup in Calgary, Alberta.
