The Drought is Over

Yes, you read the title correctly. The 11 game losing drought for your Missoula Maulers is finally over. The sweet and refreshing waters of victory have returned to Missoula for the first time since the Ogden Mustangs came to town. Also not only did the boys win, they shut out the Renegades with a score of 8-0! If you are in Las Vegas or were watching the game via FastHockey.com there was a new face to be seen out on the ice. This would be the face of newcomer '93 born Swedish defenseman #6 John Andersson! I am trying to find out more information on him for now and once I find out you will too. From my experience with the teams they are going  up against here in the next few days, here is some advice I would give to the boys for a better experience in Vegas. The first one would be bulk up the goaltending sections with a stronger mentality and physicality, put stronger defenseman out as frequently as you can, and put strong successive lines and players in a rotating cycle so no matter what time or period it is you always have at least one sniper out on the ice. I am very proud of these boys for asserting their dominance during these games and hopefully they will be able to win all 4 of them! I think the guys are finally stepping up and realizing that what they have to do to win is work as one solid core. So proud of these guys, they executed their game nearly perfect! Everyone was on their game and all the boys were on top of each play correctly. They executed plays really well and finally the forwards stayed close enough together that they could push through players and score on goal! Congratulations boys let's do it again!

Our veteran sniper, beast from the east, Corey Schafer started off the scoring at an amazing 1:20 after the start of the period. Craig Buford was given the assist. Rookie Derek Griffin found his spot to score at 13:18. Corey Schafer help him set that up. The last one to score in the first period was rook Max Rebholz. He scored 21 seconds later after he found his opportunity. Nikita Sheptytskyy and John Andersson were given the apples for this goal.

Joey Sundgren started off the scoring in the second. His power play goal came at 3:03 when he scored on tendy Brendan Hanser. Apples were given out to Corey Schafer and Derek Griffin. Then at 20:51, Max scored again with assists from Nikita Sheptytskyy and Austin Auzzinnaro. Tyler Zandhuisen scored on for himself at 23:13 when Craig Buford help set him up. Tanner Todd found the cage at 23:54. His geno was assisted by Niko Pukkila and Connor McNally. The last goal of the game was scored by McNally himself at 24:56. Erik Hartzell has the last apple.

There were no goals scored in the third period.

Here is the schedule for the rest of the tournament:
December 18th: vs. San Diego Gulls @ 12:15 pm MST
December 19th: vs. Long Beach Bombers @ 4:45 pm MST
December 20th: vs. Tulsa Jr Oilers @ 2:30 pm MST
Good luck boys you guys have the spirit and drive to be incredible!

The Maulers during the hand shake

Statistics:

PENALTIES:

Period 1:

Missoula Maulers - Joey Porco (Interference) 2 Minutes, 0:22

Missoula Maulers - Austin Auzzinnaro (Interference) 2 Minutes, 19:45

Period 2:

Missoula Maulers - Max Rebholz (Hooking) 2 Minutes, 0:52

New Mexico Renegades - Connor Rickabus (Fighting) (Major) 5 Minutes, 3:16

Missoula Maulers - Connor McNally (Fighting) (Major) 5 Minutes, 3:16

New Mexico Renegades - AJ Mussfeldt (Slashing) 2 Minutes, 12:07

New Mexico Renegades - Chandler Cole (Head Contact) 2 Minutes, 12:07

Missoula Maulers - Tyler Zandhuisen (Interference) 2 Minutes, 16:33

Period 3:

No penalties

SHOTS ON GOAL:

Missoula Maulers - 52 total

New Mexico Renegades - 19 total

POWER PLAYS:

Missoula Maulers - 1 for 2

New Mexico Renegades - 0 for 4

GOALTENDERS:

#30 Michael Mcdaniel for Missoula Maulers: 75 Minutes played, 19 shots on goal 19 saves

#35 Brendan Hanser for New Mexico Renegades: 75 Minutes played, 52 shots on goal 44 saves