The Martensville U13AA Marauders’ provincial championship hopes hit a brick wall on Sunday, March 27.
The Saskatoon league champion Marauders dropped the third and deciding north division semi-final game that night in Tisdale against the Centre Four League champion Ramblers by a score of 4-1 in Tisdale.
Home ice advantage was the difference in the series. The Ramblers took the opening game in the best-of-three series in Tisdale on Friday, March 18 by a score of 5-1.
But Martensville rebounded in a big way in Game Two at the Martensville Sports Centre a week later, spanking their opponents 11-4 on Friday, March 25 in front of a noisy, packed arena.
Martensville’s Brady Keith recorded a hat trick in the March 25 game, while teammates Sam Failler, Weston Kostiuk and Dawson Baht each scored two goals and Kohen Oblander and Ryder Hagel added singles. Marauders goalie Bennett Smysniuk faced 25 shots in the contest.
The Marauders won the Saskatoon Minor Hockey League (SMHL) U13AA championship crown on Monday, March 14 after sweeping the Saskatoon Thunder in two straight games by scores of 12-2 and 9-7. The city league title was almost a foregone conclusion for the talented Marauders squad, which cruised undefeated through the regular season and playoffs. The team’s only loss during the 2021-22 season came at the hands of the Swift Current Broncos during a tournament in Saskatoon in December.
The provincial U13AA final series between Swift Current and Tisdale is slated to begin this weekend.