For the second consecutive game the Yorkton RawTec Maulers found a way to be victorious over the Tisdale Trojans, this time using overtime on the road to get the win in a very hostile Tisdale Recplex.
The win improves the RawTec Maulers鈥� early season record to 2-0-0, good enough for four points and a share of fourth place three other SMAAAHL teams (Prince Albert Mintos, Beardy鈥檚 Blackhawks and Regina Pat Canadians).
The Moose Jaw Generals lead the way with a 3-0-1 record and seven points, one point ahead of the second place Saskatoon Contacts (3-1-0) and two up on third place Battlefords (2-0-1).
The Notre Dame Hounds (1-2-1) and Tisdale Trojans (1-2-1) are tied for eighth and ninth, while the Swift Current Legionnaires (1-1-0), Notre Dame Argos (0-4-0) and Saskatoon Blazers (0-3-0) round out the league in 10th, 11th and 12th respectively.
Second year forward Derrick Budz gave the Maulers the lead early in the first period when his shot eluded Tisdale netminder Justen Close for his second goal in as many games.
The RawTec Maulers doubled their lead late in the opening frame when rookie Mauler Brett Kemp scored the first goal of his SMAAAHL career with less than a minute remaining in the period, snapping the puck past Close after a solo effort to give Yorkton a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The second period was a different story, as the Trojans got a pair of special teams goals, one a shorthanded marker off the stick of Marshall Wilton 15:02 into the second period, the other of the powerplay variety as Kyle Sargent put the puck past Mauler goaltender Alex Geddes with just over a minute remaining to knot the game at two after two periods.
Another Trojan shorthanded goal just 38 seconds into the third period gave the home side a 3-2 lead, however Carson Miller evened the score less than two minutes later with his second goal of the season to make it 3-3.
The RawTec Maulers then took over the game, outshooting the Trojans 12-3 in the third period, however Close shut the door for the remainder of regulation time to give the fans in attendance some extra hockey.
Unfortunately for Close his effort proved not enough, as Yorkton鈥檚 Kaeden Taphorn gave the visitors a chance to celebrate on enemy ice when he rifled the puck past Close for the overtime game winner in a 4-3 Yorkton RawTec Maulers road victory.
Geddes picked up the win for the Maulers, his first of the season, stopping 19-of-22 shots while Close shouldered the loss for the Trojans, turning aside 25-of-29 Mauler chances. 鈥淗e (Geddes) did what he needed to do,鈥� offered RawTec Mauler head coach Graham Garrett when asked of the performance of his starting goaltender. 鈥淗e was kind of under some pressure by us and he needed to perform, but when you can go into Tisdale and you can get a victory in that building then you鈥檝e done something right.
鈥淗e made some big saves and some big times and he was able to get a win for us and that鈥檚 huge.鈥�
Garrett also mentioned that while it鈥檚 nice to pick up a pair of wins over a rival team early in the season to generate some momentum, the fact is that no one is really paying attention to the first few games and that most coaches are using them to find line chemistry and see what works and what doesn鈥檛. 鈥淢ost coaches are going to be worried about their teams鈥� performance and developing their teams early on by finding the right combinations in lines and the right special teams and all that kind of stuff because there are a lot of changes for most teams in the league when it comes to players,鈥� said Garrett, adding that because of that no one is concerned with the early season results. 鈥淩ight now, no one really takes notice of a couple of wins to start the season. If a team can keep it up, then people will start to notice so come ten games in, usually you get a little bit more of a feel for what鈥檚 happening around the league and who is going to be the top teams in the league.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 where we want to be after ten games or so. We鈥檙e hoping that teams are going to be saying 鈥榦h, now we鈥檝e got to go to Yorkton鈥� and not want to do that. That鈥檚 our goal. To get teams to believe that they can鈥檛 win when they come here.鈥�
Next action
The Yorkton RawTec Maulers (2-0-0) were scheduled to be in action last night in Wilcox against the Notre Dame Argos (0-4-0), however results were unavailable by press time.
The Maulers will be on the road this weekend when they travel to North Battleford for a pair of games against the Battlefords Stars (2-0-1) on Saturday and Sunday, before returning home on Tuesday, October 13 to once again take on the Tisdale Trojans (1-2-1).
Puck drop for that game is 8:00p.m. at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
