The Maulers and the Southern Oregon Spartans were in quite the competition for second place in the Northwest Division in the WSHL over the last few weeks. While the Maulers have spent most of the season in third right behind Oregon, this weekends sweep of the Lake Tahoe Blue boosted the Maulers up by six points on the Blue, after defeating them by a combined score of 21-3 over the three game series. The Maulers have yet to lose a game since the stomping they took from Idaho in December. Previous to this series, the Maulers were undefeated at home. Idaho has won all of their games this season despite one overtime. The Maulers came close in game two, also going into overtime, but after a hard fight, they lost the game in front of the Missoula fans but I don't think anyone was too disappointed! It was quiet a game! Over the break, the Maulers did make a few changes in their team, relieving forward, Brady Peterson and defensemen, Emil Travergard of their duties with Missoula. Along with the releases, the team also added a new addition to the roster, a 6'4 Lithuanian defensemen, Domantas Cypas! He seems to be a great fit with Missoula and has tallied three assists in his time with Zoo-town. Maulers sixth leading scorer, defensemen, Austin Auzzinarro was offered a great opportunity to play for the Wichita Falls Wildcats of the NAHL on the 22nd and did not travel with the team to Tahoe. The Maulers look to advance in the standings as they get set to take on the Cobras on Friday night in Butte and then back home in Missoula, Saturday! The Maulers trail the league leading, division rival, Idaho Steelheads by 13 points. | |
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It’s always fun to watch rival teams play and nobody knows that better than Cobras and Maulers fans. There is always a little of every aspect that make up a great hockey game, pushing, shoving, fighting, scoring, and celebrations. Butte was hoping to make a comeback against Missoula after being trounced on 6-4 the night before at the GIR, a goal I’m not sure they’ll ever accomplish. Damon Hanson opened up the scoring,. Taking control of a one man advantage when Corba, Chadd Lounder took a two minute minor hooking penalty just over a minute into the game. Hanson is a piece of work, if he is on the ice, good things are going to happen-for his team. He isn’t the fastest player on the team but he can carry a puck like nobody’s business and can spot a goalies weak spot from his own defensive zone. You stick that guy between Austin Auzzinnaro, a two year Mauler with some of the fanciest feet in the league, and Tanner Todd another vet, with a rough and tumble attitude and a shot a little like Johnny Boychuk’s, you’re screwed. Less than two minutes later, Russian breakout star, rookie, Alex Shalamov, already having two goals under his belt from Friday decided to add another tally to the score sheet by slipping a puck past Cobras goalie, Reed Kinsey, once again showing why he is a multiple time star of the game. Azzinnaro picked up an assists on Alex’s goal giving him two points in less than two minutes! The Maulers weren’t quite done for the period though, four year Mauler, Matt Chamberlain got in on the action, picking up a pass from Shalamov, taking off a play from three year Maulers vet Tyler Zandhuisen and throwing the puck in the net to hoist Missoula up 3-0 half way through the first. At this point, Cobras switch their goalie and put in Tage Rustgi, who played in Missoula the night before. Rustgi holds the vicious Maulers off long enough for PJ Silveria to give his team the glimmer of light they were looking for, slipping the puck under Noah Parker, just seconds after Chamberlains goal. Parker and Rustgi then turned the scoring off for the remaining minutes. Just like Butte tends to do, James Kilgore took it upon himself to grab a goal early in the period. This didn’t throw Missoula though, if you know Noah Parker , an 18 year old who can block a five hole, knock down your top shelf, and catch your slapshot, you know he doesn’t get flustered easily. Though even Parker was probably nervous when Tyler Lodin and Tanner Todd were both sent to the bin to serve penalties giving the feisty Cobras a 5 on 3. Little did Parker or the rest of the rink know, this kill was going to do nothing but help the Maulers. After a defensive zone face off, the Maulers fight to keep the puck away from the net, finally the boys get some tape on it and toss it down the ice. Rustgi went out to retrieve it, where Corey Schafer, a Mauler of three years, a trade from the Great Falls Americans in 2011, met him at the other end of the ice, grabbed the puck and effortlessly tossed it into the open net. Jonathan Bernier much? The Maulers could only protect their two goal lead for seven minutes until Anton Zimmer cut the lead to just one goal once again instilling hope in the Cobras. That was enough to agitate the Maulers. Just 18 seconds after Zimmer’s goal, Chamberlain cut off Butte’s celly by scoring a goal of his own and grabbing back the two goal lead, also giving Shalamov his second point of the night and Edward Pollon his first. Then Tanner Todd grabbed his second point off the night, feeding off a pass from Andrei Shebelbain and Damon Hanson. Hanson decided to get in on the action himself just seconds after Chamberlains goal, scoring his own and sending the Cobras into a flurry. PJ Silveria was the one who would turn out to answer for Butte, scoring a last minute goal off a pass from Kevin Philbin to go into the Intermission 4-7. As time went down in the third, both goalies manage to hold the squirmy teams out of the net until a little past the halfway mark. When a powerplay opportunity arises for Missoula, coach Marcus Baxter throws on one of the most dangerous lines in all of the league to take advantage of the power play. Austin Azzinnaro, Tanner Todd, and Damon Hanson all lined up in front of Tage, where Todd was the lucky guy who doubled the score over the opposers. Four minutes later, Alex Shalamov put the game away with some help from Pollon and Zanhuisen to wrap things up 4-9. Tanner Todd Picked up first star of the night, Shalamov grabbed second and PJ Silveria claimed third. Some very honorable mentions for the games who didn’t get recognized. Edward Pollon, Andrei Shebelbain, Emil Travergard. Welcome to the most bias blog you will every read! Its Missoula Maulers all the time! If you're not a Maulers fan, you might wanna like exit now....
If the WSHL had a set of standings solely based on a teams excitement of play, the Missoula Maulers would be number one without a doubt. It's always good when somebody owns two teams but even 125 miles cant keep the peace between these guys but then again, who wants peace in hockey!? The Maulers and Rival, Butte Cobras, a new team this year also owned by Michael Burks, always put up a good game but these baby snakes can never down 8 year-old ZooTown! Over the weekend, the team met up for back to back games. Some few thousand fans showed up at the GIR for Friday's first Maulers game of 2015. Butte's Dzmitry Daniliuk brought the house down when he scored the first goal for the Cobras less than six minutes into the game. A Pissed off tendy, Aron Holmgren then decided that was enough puck for the net that period and shut the scoring thing off. Under Holmgrens guard, with the help of Damon Hanson and Maulers vet Tanner Todd, Andrei Shebelbain tied the game and left the Glacier Ice Rink in a deafening roar, it was a goal hard to follow up to but no problem for Breakout star and fellow Russian Alex Shalamov who threw the puck between the pipes to lift Missoula up 2-1 into the first intermission. While only three goals were scored in the first 20, these rivals racked up quite some time in the sin bin. The box was filled for a full 18 minutes of the game, giving each team a decent number of power plays, which was also where Dzmitiry scored his goal. Between all the hooking and cross checking, neither team managed to put up any major times on the board. The Corbas are a little bit like the Titantic, they look good until the hit the ice. Well- even for the first few minutes they can stay afloat. That's where Butte seems to score a number of their goals, in the first minutes of the period. Just like the first, PJ Silveia tallied a goal just over a minute in on a power play from a penalty called on Maulers' Tyler Lodin. The boys didn't let Lodin take the guilt too long, A-Captain, Tanner Todd lightened the load and scored a pretty goal, cashing in on an power play opportunity, off a feed from Henrik Ekestahl and surprise, surprise- Damon Hanson and we would like to thank Zach Steuck and Kevin Philbin for their time in the box. The Maulers hadn't quite had enough yet, can you guess, yes, WSHL's #1 star of the week, Rocket-Damon Hanson added a goal to his two assists to put Missoula up on a steady 4-2 in the second intermission. Hahah oh wait its the beginning of a new period, Butte has to score! We will give credit to James Kilgore for that nice little tally. After they got that out of the way, it was time to Sawyer Jacobson to show the town why he is captain. Like second nature, Jacobson brought the puck down the ice and with the help of long time Mauler and fan favorite, Corey Schafer scored on a not-so-happy Tage Rusgi, to once again give their team a two goal lead. After the beauty from S&S, Alex Shalamov decided he wanted in on the action and what better way to gather the affection of home fans than scoring an unassisted goal? Two in a game, no biggie for this guy. PJ Silveria followed Alex's example and put in another for the Cobras in the last minutes of the game, it was a goal worth celebrating but it was short lived when his team lost 6-4. |
Zach Jaffe is quickly creating a name and reputation for himself in his hometown of
Missoula! Mirror Image: Parker Todd joins his brother, Tanners old team, Even repping the same digits!
Welcome back, Auzzie! Veteran Austin Azzinnaro gets reacquainted in Zoo after playing the end of last season in the NAHL. Patrik Hellman joins in on the excitement.
Captain Damon Hanson celebrates a goal with Mikhail Akatnov and another teammate.
Newcomer, Marten Ekstrom traveled all the way from Sweden to rep ZooTown!
Sander Mjolnerod, who notched two goals in the first period on Friday against Seattle.
Edward Pollon about to beat Angus Campbell on his four-goal night.
Multiple time WSHL honorable mention, Alex Shalamov.
Tanner Todd showing his puck handling skills.
Domantas Cypas
Matt Chamberlain and White Fish's Danny Roe get in a tilly.
ZooTown welcomes back Paige Maul!
Sam Sevcik records five goal weekend against Spartans! Two that were just 14 seconds apart!
Birthday-Boy Corey Schafer scores 19 seconds into the game on the first shift!
Missoula wishes best to Austin Azzinnaro as he moves up to represent the Witchata Falls Wildcats of the NAHL!
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