YORKTON, SK — The Yorkton Kinsmen Maulers continue to round out its staff ahead of the 2026-27 season, and that includes new Head Scout, Tyler Van Luven.
Van Luven joined the Kinsmen Mauler Staff in January of this year and was apart of this years spring camp, and has hit the ground running early in his Kinsmen Mauler career.
Van Luven, a product of Dysart, Saskatchewan, hopes to bring a fresh outlook on the club and continue to build a new foundation of Kinsmen Maulers Hockey. As a player, Van Luven played at home until U18 then played in Lebret and junior hockey in Canora and Regina.
After junior hockey and then over a decade in senior hockey, Van Luven has recently been working with SaskFirst and the Saskatchewan Hockey Association for the past five years. After building contacts throughout the game over his career, Van Luven said he feels comfortable being able to use that network in his new role with the organization.
“I am really looking forward to this new chapter in the Yorkton Maulers history. I want to start getting more involved in the Yorkton and Melville areas for our kids around there to get them back to being excited about being a Mauler again,” Van Luven said.
“It’s all going to come together here. This next year is kind of our first year, a new era, starting from ground zero … things are going to be looking up for the Maulers very, very soon, and I’m so excited to be a part of this.”
When asked about what he’s looking for in the next generation of Kinsmen Mauler prospects, Van Luven had a few things he pointed to.
“First off having a strong hockey IQ is very important. Reading the ice well and being a complete all around player is what we are looking for. The one thing I think gets overlooked a lot in hockey nowadays is people just seem to focus on the points … I’ll say that’s also obviously important for me, but I want to see kids with a few things: Good character, good kids (both on and off the ice) that have a strong compete level, which means battling for pucks all over the ice. Never giving up on a back check. Good skating and — in today’s day and age, it’s not like it was back in the day where we could clutch and grab and hold — you have to be a good fluid skater. And then lastly, I always come back to this: I prided myself on my game when I was playing as always being the hardest worker. And that’s what I look for in kids now is I want to see them all over the ice, giving it their all, trying to, trying to be a better player each day” he said.
The 2026-2027 Yorkton Kinsmen Maulers will host their fall training camp from August 14-16, 2026.
ABOUT THE YORKTON KINSMEN MAULERS: The Yorkton Kinsmen Maulers are a U18 AAA Hockey Club playing out of the Saskatchewan Male AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL). The club was founded in 1983 and formed a partnership with the Kinsmen Club of Yorkton in 2024 with a three year naming rights agreement.
FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT: Jeremy Palanuik, General Manager and Associate Coach | gm@maulers.ca | (306) 527-3435
