By COLBY STOESZ
It was a tale of two games for the U18AA Martensville Marauders as they hosted two exciting matches over the weekend.
`The Marauders dropped Saturday’s match 3-5 against the West Central Wheat Kings and picked up a 6-1 win over the Parkland Elks on Sunday.
The Marauders tested out their new penalty box on Saturday, as the home team spent 53 minutes in the cooler en route to their 3-5 loss.
The first period began with a Wheat Kings power-play goal, scored by Tyce Perkins. Marauder Parker Livingstone answered five minutes later, as he picked up his 13th goal of the season aided by Brody Collins. West Central netted another goal on the man-advantage soon after, and Martensville finished the first frame down a goal.
The Marauders evened the score less than two minutes into the second period. Tyson Janzen found the back of the net, with Deagan Reister and Wyatt LaRoche picking up the assists. Penalties dominated the rest of the period, and Martensville took seven penalties including two 10-minute misconducts. The home team allowed a Wheat Kings score towards the end of the period, and once again found themselves trailing at the second intermission.
Saturday’s third period continued in the wrong direction for Martensville. Tyler Hale scored on the power play for his seventh of the year, but two more Wheat King goals handed the Marauders their fourth loss of the season.
The Marauders hosted the Parkland Elks on Sunday, in what turned out to be a far better showing than the day prior. Perhaps fueled by their loss to the Wheat Kings, Martensville sent an astounding 62 shots at the Elks goaltender and gave the visitors no room to breathe.
Clark Goebel scored the lone goal of the first 20 minutes, helped by Kohen Pierce and Brayden Skene as Martensville won their first period of the weekend.
The scoreboard remained unchanged for seven minutes in the second period until the Elks evened the score off of a Kamden Shewchuk goal. The Marauders responded with four unanswered goals to build a healthy lead into the final intermission. Skene, Pierce, Goebel, and Grady Stoddart-Reis all scored to give Martensville a 5-1 cushion with 20 minutes to play.
The Marauders continued their dominance in the third period, doubling the Elks’ shot count and scoring one goal. Dalton Friesen scored the final goal of the weekend, assisted by Hale to seal the deal for Martensville.
The Marauders will host two more games before the New Year, as they’ll host the Warman Wildcats on Friday, December 20 and the North West Stars the day after. Martensville currently sits third in the Centre Four division, five points back of the first-place Saskatoon Sabercats.