(Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Streak Snapped

Mustangs fall to Terriers for first regulation loss in over a month

Oct 23, 2019 | 10:19 AM

“I don’t know if we deserved the result we got tonight, but that was the result we got.”

That’s from Melfort Mustangs Head Coach Trevor Blevins after his club lost 4-2 to the Yorkton Terriers on Tuesday, Oct. 22 in Sakatchewan Junior Hockey League action. It was the Mustangs’ first loss in regulation time since Sept. 14, the opening weekend of the season, a span of 13 games. On Tuesday, the Mustangs seemed to control play for the vast majority of the game and outshot the Terriers 46-23, but the Mustangs ultimately lost. Blevins said part of the reason for the loss was the lack of traffic that was in front of Terrier netminder Ryan Ouellette.

“There wasn’t a lot of drive or edge in front of the net and that’s important in this league,” Blevins told northeastNOW. “And you have to score more than two today.”

In the first period, the Mustangs outshot Yorkton 14-6 and had numerous quality chances. The only goal to show came as Nolan Kadachuk fired a shot from the blue line that went off the pad off Ouellette and into the slot where Ben Tkachuk wacked his second of the year past the Terrier goalie to make it 1-0. Yorkton had some sustained zone time on a powerplay, but that was pretty much it in the frame.

Melfort controlled period two once again, but not as much as the first, only outshooting the Terriers by two. According to Blevins, a few “soft plays” cost Melfort the lead in that period as Kurri Woodford and Jaxon Blight scored 46 seconds apart to give Yorkton the 2-1 lead after two.

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Melfort tied the game in the third when Colton Schell knocked in a powerplay goal about seven minutes in. However, that was short lived as Yorkton matched it with a powerplay goal of their own as Steven Norum scored his third of the year to make it 3-2. Ryan Ries fired one into the empty net with just seconds to go and that was the dagger for Melfort. They pressed in the third, outshooting the Terriers 21-8 in the frame, but could only get the one past Ouellette who was excellent in his first start of the year with the Terriers after starting the year in the North American Hockey League.

Melfort (10-3-2-1) will be back at it on Friday as they host the Nipawin Hawks in the first half of a home and home on the weekend.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6