The Martensville Marauders won the provincial championship of the new Saskatchewan 15AA Hockey League in convincing style on Tuesday, March 26, downing the visiting Weyburn Red Wings 7-4.
The trophy-clinching victory was the second straight win for the Marauders. They took Game One in Weyburn on March 24 by a score of 5-2.
“It felt amazing,” said Marauders captain Broden Wotherspoon, who potted the final two empty-net goals in the championship-winning game in front of a loud crowd that packed the bleachers to the rafters in the old Martensville arena. “After all the hard work we put in all season long, it really paid off.”
Martensville forward Easton Woytiuk echoed those sentiments.
“Holding the trophy and the banner was really exciting,” said Woytiuk. “It was a great season and everyone contributed in a total team effort. Our team is made up of guys from Martensville and Warman, and other towns in the region, and everyone got along great.”
While Martensville held the lead the entire game, they were constantly looking over their shoulder as Weyburn kept pressing for the full 60 minutes. Martensville goaltender Wyatt Fleishhacker proved up to the task, making spectacular timely saves when called on.
Corbin Nieman got the Marauders on the scoreboard early in the first period, blasting a howitzer past Red Wings’ goalie Connor Brady.
Martensville increased its lead a few minutes later thanks to a lucky bounce. Dryden Ekstrom skated across the centre line and dumped the puck in for a line change. The puck took a crazy bounce past the Weyburn goalie and into the net. Ekstrom didn’t see it go in as he was already heading back to the bench.
Weyburn’s Owen Pushie finally got the visitors on the board late in the second period with a power play goal, but Martensville’s Wotherspoon answered back with a backhand goal after cutting around a defenceman.
With a minute and half left in the second period, a flurry of penalties, including a bench minor for Weyburn, resulted in a power play goal by Martensville’s Woytiuk early in the third period.
Weyburn got two more goals late in the final frame from Reese Copeland and Austin Sawatzky, drawing Weyburn to within one goal and boosting the tension level in the building into the stratosphere.
But, rather than buckling under pressure, Martensville confidently scored three empty-netters in the dying minutes of the game (one from Carson Ekstrom and two from Broden Wotherspoon). Weyburn managed to answer back with one more goal from Weyburn’s Daxer Schroeder, but it was too little, too late.
Marauders head coach Ron Biberdorf said winning the championship in the league’s inaugural season was one of the objectives right from the start of the season. He gave full credit to assistant coaches
“It’s been a long journey this season,” said Biberdorf. “I’m very proud of the boys’ accomplishment. They worked hard., and so did coaches Austin Withrow and Cole Duperreault. They’re young guys, and they really helped the players with their skill development. They’re also closer in age to the players and easy for them to talk to.”
Biberdorf said the Weyburn series was one of the toughest the Marauders faced all season.
“Weyburn had no quit in them,” he said. “They went through two hard series against Melville and Regina to get to the final, and they were fired up. We had our hands full.”
He said the Marauders’ game plan was to move the puck in the neutral zone and cycle down low. But Weyburn did a great job of plugging up the middle, which negated the Marauders speed through the neutral zone.
“We had to make a transition and work around that,” he said. “Whenever we got into penalty trouble, had a defensive zone breakdown or made a bad decision with the puck, Wyatt made good saves, and more importantly, timely saves.”
Biberdorf said the goal of the 15AA league in general and the Marauders in particular, is to help talented players make the jump directly to U18AAA and Junior A teams.
“A new team, a new league; there was a lot of plowing done to break new ground, not just with establishing the league but also how we structured our program,” said Biberdorf. “We ran the program in an academy-style way, and I believe that was appealing to these young men. It was a big drawing card, because they got a chance to skate, practice, and hone their skills every day.”
Many of the Marauders team members are already packing their bags to take part in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) and Saskatchewan Male U18AAA Hockey League training camps next week. Wotherspoon is looking to crack the La Ronge Ice Wolves roster, while Woytiuk is going to show his stuff to the brass with the Warman U18AAA Wildcats.
Biberdorf said he expects the players to take their experience from this season and apply it with their new team.
“Our feeling was, we have 18 kids who want to play at a higher level,” he said. “But beyond that, I think they all had a year they’ll never forget. They made good friendships that will last a long time. Now we’re excited to watch these kids continue to play for other teams down the road, and we’ll be fans of theirs as they continue their hockey careers.”