The Mustangs (blue) shake hands with the Klippers (white), after a hard fought series. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW)

By Mat Barrett

Mustangs Moving On

Mustangs gallop to semis after game five win over Klippers

Mar 23, 2019 | 4:17 PM

The Melfort Mustangs are the first team to punch their ticket to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) semi-finals.

On Friday, March 22, the Mustangs defended home ice, winning the game 3-2, and the best-of-seven series in five games.

The Klippers were playing desperate in the hockey game, pinning the Mustangs in their own zone for the first few shifts. That resulted in a powerplay for the Klippers, and just five seconds into the man-advantage, Ty Enns wrist shot beat Mustangs netminder Noah Giesbrecht to give Kindersley the 1-0 lead just about four minutes into the do-or-die game for the Klippers. The score stayed 1-0 until the end of the first period, and Head Coach Trevor Blevins said his team was pushed on their heels a bit.

“I think a lot of it for some reason was just puck management and nerves maybe,” Blevins told northeastNOW. “We threw a lot of pucks away, and we didn’t bring a lot of urgency to our game. But you’ve got to give Kindersley credit, they came out hard and they had a real push in the first. They did, they turned over a lot of pucks on us.”

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Blevins added that it was a credit to his guys as they responded in the second.

In that second period, it didn’t take long for the Mustangs to tie things up. Tanner Zenter had a sharp angle shot that was able to beat Klipper goalie Justen Close to make it 1-1. Almost five minutes later, the line of Zentner, Carson Albrecht, and Justin Ball struck again. Zentner was able to exit the zone and dropped the puck to Albrecht who ripped a shot by Close, giving the Mustangs a 2-1 lead. It would stay that way until the third period.

In the final period, it was Ball’s turn to get a goal as on a powerplay, the puck got worked around to the SJHL MVP, and he was able to fire a shot past Close for a 3-1 Mustang lead. Blevins said his top line showed up when they needed to as they combined for six points on the night.

“They were phenomenal, they were absolutely phenomenal. ” Blevins said. “They were hard on every puck, I don’t think I remember them getting hemmed in at all in our end. We were tough on the half wall with Carson and Justin, and got pucks to Tanner. Tanner was great support too, they played like 20 year olds, they played like leaders, and they played like top end guys on any team and our league.”

Kindersley made it close in the third with a Caden Benson goal with two minutes to play, but the Mustangs weathered the storm and walked away with a 3-2 victory on home ice.

Melfort is still waiting for the other quarter-final series to finish to see who they will meet in the next round.

mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6