By Clark Stork

Mustangs and Hawks suffer holiday defeats

Feb 20, 2018 | 7:15 AM

The Mustangs and Hawks were right in the middle of a wild Family Day weekend of Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) action.

Colin Schmidt scored with 0.6 seconds left in regulation time Friday, giving the Melfort Mustangs a 3-2 win over Flin Flon. On the same night Nipawin gave up two late goals, but secured a 4-3 win over Humboldt. The Mustangs galloped into Nipawin Saturday and bucked past the Hawks 7-3, ending Nipawin’s 30-game point streak. On Sunday the Hawks and Mustangs recouped for Family Day holiday games, when the Mustangs stumbled into Humboldt, falling 6-0, and Nipawin was clipped 3-2 against Flin Flon.

Mustangs’ captain Andrew Thompson said Monday’s loss was disappointing following Saturday’s strong performance.

“It’s pretty disappointing, winning in Nipawin and not being able to pull it together today,” Thompson said. “We could have used the points to gain on the Battlefords and Hawks in the playoff stretch.”

The Mustangs started strong, outshooting the Broncos 11-3 early in the first period, but fell behind when a short-handed goal by Tisdale product Nick Shumlanski opened the scoring for Humboldt. Shumlanski scored again in the first period, expanding the lead to 2-0. Thompson said the Mustangs never recovered, despite their strong start.

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“I believe the game could’ve ended differently if we scored one or two in the first ten minutes,” he said. “It felt like we lost all momentum.”

Broncos’ captain Logan Schatz beat Evan Plotnik for the only goal of the second period with just 29 seconds remaining, essentially taking Melfort out of the game, and the Broncos netted three more goals in the final period.

Overall, the Mustangs’ grabbed four of six possible points over the weekend. Thompson said the team appreciates the four points they incurred in the standings.

“Four of six points is definitely decent, but we can never be satisfied. We had the possibility of six but came up just a bit short,” Thompson said.

The loss leaves Melfort eight points up on Humboldt for home ice advantage in a predicted four-versus-five first-round playoff match-up.

The Nipawin Hawks lost their second straight game Monday in Flin Flon. The SJHL leaders haven’t lost back-to-back games since November.

Logan Casavant scored his 14th goal of the season and Brandan Arnold chipped in with his 29th, but Nate Hooper’s third period goal secured a Bombers’ victory.

The Hawks travel to Flin Flon Feb. 23, and host the Bombers Feb. 24.

Clark.stork@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @ClarkStork