(Mat Barrett/northeastNOW)

By Mat Barrett

Mustangs vs Klippers

Mustangs draw first blood in quarter-final series with Klippers

Mar 16, 2019 | 8:30 AM

The Melfort Mustangs have taken game one of their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) quarter-final series against the Kindersley Klippers.

The Mustangs managed to walk away with a 2-1 win Friday night on home ice in a game that fed off late goals.

In the first period, both teams seemed a bit jittery and both squads were able to get some scoring chances. Kindersley capitalized on one of their scoring chances as Tyler Traptow fired a slapshot from the point on the powerplay to give Kindersley the 1-0 lead with 50 seconds to play in the first. Mustangs Head Coach Trevor Blevins said it took them a bit to settle things down after a 10-day break.

“I though the rust was there,” Blevins said. “We bobbled lots of pucks on the powerplay, it definitely wasn’t the movement that we’re used to watching our team do. You know, shake the nerves out, game one, sometimes it’s not pretty and when you find a way to win, that was huge for us. I really thought our compete level was where it needed to be for the second half of the game.”

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Kindersley was only able to fire four shots towards Mustang netminder Noah Giesbrecht in the second period, possibly thanks to four Melfort powerplays, but Kindersley also had two of their own. Melfort had 11 shots in the frame, and they scored on one. With just under two minutes to play, on a powerplay, a scrum in front of the Kindersley net led to Carson Albrecht getting the last touch, and getting it past Klippers goalie Justen Close.

Blevins said the excellent second period was thanks to not having to play as much defence.

“I thought it was more offense for us,” Blevins said. “I thought we were in the offensive zone a lot, we controlled the zone time, we made some things happen, won some battles, got tougher on pucks and controlled the puck.”

The third period saw a fast and furious frame as the teams went back and forth. Each team earned two powerplays in the frame, but only the Mustangs were able to score. With just over two minutes to play, the Mustangs moved the puck around on the powerplay and Kayle Tosh was able to find Carson Albrecht waiting on the left wing where he fired a one-timer past Close to give Melfort the 2-1 lead. Late in the game the Klippers were coming hard but Melfort stood tall and was able to finish off the victory in game one.

Both goaltenders were excellent in the game, Justen Close was excellent for the Klippers, stopping 37 of 39 shots he saw, showing why he was named the SJHL’s Top Goalie. As for Noah Giesbrecht of the Mustangs, he stopped 26 of 27 shots, and made a few huge saves late in the game.

Game two of the best of seven series Saturday night, back at the Northern Lights Palace in Melfort.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6