The Yorkton RawTec Maulers of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League had one game over the past week.
It was played on home ice at the Farrell Agencies Arena 鈥� their first game at home since returning from the Christmas break.
The game was played on Wednesday, Jan. 11 against the Notre Dame Hounds, the third place team in league standings. It was a close, back and forth game, but the Maulers were able to come together and pull off a win after three periods of regulation play, one period of overtime and a shootout round. In the end, Derrick Budz scored the winning goal during the shootout, and the Maulers won 6-5.
In the first period, a total of three goals were scored 鈥� one for Yorkton and two for Notre Dame. Yorkton got the first goal about five minutes into the period, when Zach McIntyre connected with assists from Derrick Budz and MacKenzie Walkington. But the Hounds answered with two goals in the last few minutes of play in the first.
The second period would see a total of four goals 鈥� three from Yorkton and one from Notre Dame.
Yorkton鈥檚 second goal was scored by MacKenzie Walkington, with assists from Derrick Budz and Kaedan Korczak. The third goal came from Beau Stevenson with assists from Kishuan Gervais and Kaedan Korczak. And the fourth goal came from Trey Bear with the assist from Aiden Bulych. Notre Dame also scored one in the period. At the end of the second, the score was 4-3 for Yorkton.
In the third period, the Maulers started the scoring off with one from Ryder Pierson, with the assists coming from Aiden Bulych and Trey Bear. But, the Hounds would come back to score two more before the period ended. This pushed the score to 5-5, where it would remain for the rest of regulation play.
The overtime period would finish without any goals, and so the game went into a shootout.
Derrick Budz was the only player from both teams to score in the shootout, which captured the win for Yorkton.
After the game, Maulers head coach Graham Garrett praised the players for their level of play.
鈥淚 thought our structure was very good tonight. Guys committed to how we needed to play,鈥� said Garrett.
The Maulers were missing several key players in their lineup: two defenders they had out for suspension and goalie Jordan Schmuland who was out because of illness. Earlier in the week, they also lost Austin Shumanski, who was picked up by the La Ronge Ice Wolves of the SJHL.
鈥淲e were short staffed back there, but I thought Sperling did a great job at coming back and playing defence,鈥� said Garrett. 鈥淜orczak had an unbelievable game for the amount of ice time that he logged. And our forwards helped out.鈥�
鈥淕oing forward, when we get our other two D-men back, we just need to understand the structure.鈥�
The win pushed the Maulers back into sixth place in the league, which is where they need to be with playoffs in the near future.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge win for us,鈥� he said. 鈥淓very two points is so important going forward now.鈥�
Kevin Rawlick, the Maulers鈥� assistant coach, echoed similar thoughts.
鈥淭he guys played excellent. Everybody played the best team game that I鈥檝e seen them play all year,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or everybody who鈥檚 out of the lineup, other players get chances.鈥�
Rawlick also weighed in on Shumanski moving up to the SJHL.
鈥淟osing Shumanski was a big one. It鈥檚 tough to say goodbye to a guy like that. But, as we just told him in the dressing room, we鈥檙e all right. We鈥檒l be fine without him, just everyone else has to step up their game,鈥� he said.
The Maulers have had a week to practice and rest before their next game.
They play on Wedneday, Jan. 18 at 8:00 p.m. at the Farrell Agencies Arena, when they take on the Regina Pat Canadians 鈥� the current first place team in the league.
