鶹Ƶ

Skip to content

Pair of Mauler vets putting up numbers

With last year’s top five scorers either graduated from midget hockey or simply moving on to Junior ‘A’, many wondered where the offence would come from for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers for the 2015/16 SMAAAHL season.

With last year’s top five scorers either graduated from midget hockey or simply moving on to Junior ‘A’, many wondered where the offence would come from for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers for the 2015/16 SMAAAHL season.

Twenty-eight games into the 2015/16 season and their questions seem to have been answered, as third-year forward Damian Bentz and second-year man Derrick Budz have exploded onto the SMAAAHL scoring season with 34 and 31 points respectively to sit in fourth (Bentz, 20 goals, 14 assists) and ninth (Budz, 13 goals, 18 assists) in league scoring. “Coming into the season, I felt good,” said the Yorkton-born Budz, who grew from 5’4” and 120 pounds last season to 5’10” and 145 pounds this year. “I didn’t expect it but I wanted to have a good season, a breakout year, and catch some eyes and hopefully get to the next level next year which is my goal and I think I’m doing that.”

For Punnichy’s Bentz, in his third season as a member of the Maulers, expectations to produce weren’t just from himself, but Coach Graham Garrett as well. “At the start of the season coach Garrett said that he expected that out of me,” suggested Bentz. “He told me he thought I’d be one of the top scorers in the league and that put a lot of pressure on me, but I came out and got on a roll early on.

“I knew the coaches were going to rely on that and so I’ve been making sure that I’ve been ready to play game in and game out all season long and lead by example for the younger players.”

Both Budz and Bentz credit their so far impressive seasons to the chemistry that they have developed with one another - as well as centre Brett Kemp - who also has 31 points on the season and sits in 10th in league scoring. “Coming into the start of the season here coach said he wanted some chemistry and so he threw us together and we just seemed to jell right from the start,” mentioned Bentz.

Budz agreed with his linemate, adding that it’s easy to put up good offensive numbers when you have such strong chemistry with someone. “We move the puck well and do the little things well, like chipping the puck out and driving the net hard. Nice passing plays and we jell nice together.

“We’re always laughing, talking and having fun together off the ice and that’s what hockey is all about.”

The pair of Mauler forwards now hope that they’ll continue their offensive ways in the 2016 calendar year and lead the RawTec Maulers to a top four finish and home ice in the opening round of the SMAAAHL playoffs. “We want to keep this up,” said Bentz, continuing, “I think that this year has been the tightest that this team has been since I’ve been on it and we’re going to keep on playing like this for the rest of the season.”

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks