The Yorkton RawTec Maulers had an opportunity to pull to within one point of the fourth place Battlefords Stars this past weekend with a pair of victories.
Instead, the Maulers now sit nine points back of the Stars after a pair of defeats, a close 6-4 loss on Saturday and a devastating 13-1 defeat on Sunday.
The two losses mean that the RawTec Maulers do not move up in the standings and continue to sit in seventh place overall with a record of 17-16-4 for 38 points, four up on eighth place Moose Jaw (15-16-4, 34 points) and four back of Prince Albert (18-12-6, 42 points).
The Regina Pat Canadians currently sit first overall with a sparkling 29-8-1 record for 59 points, just one ahead of second place Tisdale (28-5-2, 58 points) but 11 clear of the third place Notre Dame Hounds (24-8-0, 48 points).
The aforementioned Stars are one point back of the Hounds now for third with a 23-12-1 record and 47 points while the Saskatoon Contacts are fifth at 21-11-2 and 44 points.
Beardy鈥檚 (14-23-1), the Saskatoon Blazers (11-26-0), Swift Current (9-27-2) and Notre Dame Argos (5-27-0) all sit on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs with 29, 22, 20 and 10 points respectively for ninth through to twelfth.
Saturday night in North Battleford it was the Maulers that opened the scoring when Koal Roberts beat Talen King early in the first period.
A trio of Battlefords goals made it 3-1 for the hosts before Logan Casavant brought Yorkton back to within one and heading into the first intermission the score was 3-2.
Battlefords鈥� forward Kaleb Dahlgren picked up the lone goal of the middle frame to extend the Stars鈥� lead to two at 4-2. A lead that was once again increased early in the third period by Keifer Hintz.
A pair of RawTec Mauler goals, one each by Cole Keenleyside and Damian Bentz, brought Yorkton back to within one, however an empty net, shorthanded marker by Spencer Bast with 34 seconds remaining in the game sealed the deal for the Stars.
Rylan Palchewich had a rough go of it between the Yorkton pipes, stopping just one of four shots before being replaced by Carter Phair who turned aside 32-of-34 shots in relief.
A day later and the two teams were back at it in a game in which the RawTec Maulers most likely wished they could have tossed in the white flag and surrendered as they were unmercifully beaten by the Stars 13-1.
A total of 12 pucks found the back of the Yorkton net in Sunday鈥檚 game before AP call up Brayden Miller, playing just his third game of the season for the RawTec Maulers, finally managed to break the Brett Pongracz shutout bid with 5:14 remaining in the period.
One more Stars goal later and the beat down was over with a final score of 13-1 in favour of the Battlefords. 鈥淚t was just one of those games where everything went in for them and nothing did for us,鈥� said RawTec Mauler head coach Dan Cross via a phone interview Monday evening. 鈥淓verything they threw at the net seemed to go in while we couldn鈥檛 get anything past their guy.鈥�
Cross then mentioned that the score was not indicative of the game, saying that Yorkton can definitely compete with them; it was just that one game that everyone has once a season. 鈥淲e know we can compete with them, so I鈥檓 not worried,鈥� offered Cross. 鈥淲e had a game like that earlier this year where we beat Beardy鈥檚 8-2.
鈥淲e just have to put it behind us and focus now on the rest of the season. I don鈥檛 think it hurt our camaraderie or anything; it was just one of those games.鈥�
Up next
The next action for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers will be tonight (Wednesday) when they host the Notre Dame Hounds (24-8-0) in an 8:00p.m. game that was originally scheduled for January 14.
They鈥檒l then hit the road tomorrow (Thursday) for a an important game against the Moose Jaw Generals (15-16-4).
