The Home Hardware Midget AAA Legionnaires' weekend got underway with another narrow margin of defeat, but the offence got back on track in a big way.

On the road taking on the Yorkton Maulers, the two teams battled in an evenly-matched Saturday night contest.

Despite two Mason Strutt goals giving Swift a 2-1 lead through two periods, Yorkton responded in front of the home crowd.

Two third-period goals gave the Maulers a tight 3-2 win, as the shots were 36-34 in favour of the Legionnaires.

Swift's fifth-straight loss (0-3-0-2) has seen the Legionnaires lose by one goal in three of those contests.

However, with veteran players out of the lineup with various ailments, head coach Darren Evjen said the team has competed well.

"Our game isn't that bad right now, we're putting more minutes on more players that aren't used to those minutes, but in the end, that will help us because they've got to learn to play in those situations," he said.
"Goal-scoring has seemed to dry up in the last four or five games - we've had a tough time scoring. We're creating lots of opportunities, we're just not finishing. When you create, eventually it will come back."

In a case of effective foreshadowing, the Legionnaires finished the weekend flying on the scoreboard.

Swift didn't waste much time gaining momentum on Sunday, as goals from Rhett Stevenson, Owen Ozar, Jerzy Orchard, and Mac Gross gave Swift a 4-1 lead after the first frame.

It was something their head coach said was essential to get rid of some nerves early in the game.

"You have a little bit of a cushion to make some mistakes and right now when you've lost some games, you lose that edge you have and you don't play like you do when you're winning four in a row. To get that lead and just keep playing was an important part for us."

However, the Maulers would own the second period, scoring a trio to tie up the game heading into the final 20 minutes. There, Swift would regain momentum and put a stranglehold on the game with another four-goal period.

Jacob Piller, Ty Muench, Reed Jacobson, and Ozar's second gave the Legionnaires a much-needed and well-earned 8-4 win.

Cody Levesque stopped 29 of 33 shots for the win.

Muench (1 G, 3 A) and Ozar (2 G, 1 A) led the way offensively for the Legionnaires, but it was a first-period goal that stood out.

The goal by defenceman Mac Gross, scored with 4:58 left in the first, was the hometown product's first Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League goal in his 19th game.

"I was just kind of following up the play," said the 6-foot-2 blueliner. "I made a play up the wall and we just kind of had an out-numbered situation and I was just kind of following up and the puck came to me, I put it on net and it went off of something and in."

Gross, who had 19 points (7 G, 12 A) for the provincial-champion Kabos Bantam AA Broncos the previous season, says he has to continue the consistency in his preparation to fully settle into the elite Midget AAA level.

"It's a big jump from Bantam AA to Midget AAA. Everybody is good, fast, strong, there are fewer teams too," he said. "It's just about coming ready to play every day, coming to practice every day ready to work, pay attention to video, the coaches. It's a matter of preparation really just to keep going and make quicker plays."

The maturation process in the first 19 games of the season has been evident to his head coach as well.

"We've been seeing lots of growth in Mac," said Evjen. "His skating and his overall game have gotten better, where he's settling into a higher level of hockey from last year. Now with guy out, it's given him an opportunity to move up in our depth chart, and he's responded very well. That's what good players do - when they get an opportunity they play well, and he's done that."

Now, the Legionnaires have five days until their next game, plenty of time to fix and tweak areas of their game needing the work in practice.

"We definitely have to work on our entries into our zone, our puck battles - those kinds of things - and just get back to some battling, which we've gotten away from when you play quite a few games," Evjen said. "So we'll go back and put in some good hard work days and then also continue to work on some offensive things, create some new faceoffs, and be ready for this weekend so we give ourselves a chance to win those games."

The Home Hardware Midget AAA Legionnaires (10-7-0-2) host the Saskatoon Blazers (3-11-2-2) on Friday, and the Notre Dame Hounds (11-1-0-1) on Sunday. Both games are at the Innovation Credit Union iPlex.