(Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Sweet Victory

Goalies busy in Mustangs exciting win over Ice Wolves

Dec 11, 2019 | 9:30 AM

A thriller between the Melfort Mustangs and La Ronge Ice Wolves had pretty much everything fans could want on Tuesday.

It ended 4-3 for the Mustangs in a shootout, which means overtime was also played. The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) game featured leads evaporating, some lengthy powerplays, some nastiness between divisional rivals, and a record broken, what more could you ask for?

Things didn’t start the way the Mustangs wanted as Spencer Kennedy notched his sixth of the season just 1:37 into the contest to make it 1-0 La Ronge. However, a Mustang powerplay goal from Lucas Ochitwa tied things up 8:37 into the game. About nine minutes later, Tyson Meyers scored for Melfort, giving them their first lead of the game. That was followed by Kenzie Arnold finishing off a nice feed from Tian Rask, making it 3-1 Melfort after one period. Assistant Coach Trevor Logan said they pushed the pace like they needed to in the first.

“I think that’s been our best start in this rink for sure,” he said. “We came out and just played with pace and we were physical. They got an early one and the boys just kept going and digging and we got some traffic in front of [Liam] McGarva, which you have to do if you’re going to score on him.”

McGarva, the Ice Wolves netminder in the game faced 17 shots in the frame, and he saw a lot more through the rest of the game.

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Melfort outshot La Ronge 21-14 in the second period, but it was La Ronge who got the rewards on the scoreboard. Spencer Kennedy tipped a shot passed Mustang goalie Tanner Martin on the powerplay to bring the Ice Wolves back to within one. Then Daylon Mannon scored on another powerplay in the period to make it 3-3 after two. Logan said they were hemmed in at times in the period, but they were able to keep things at bay and make sure they didn’t get too low in a tough building.

“You just have to stick with your game plan for 60 minutes and ride it out and see what happens at the end of the night,” Logan told northeastNOW. “And I think we did stick with it, we came out a bit better in the third I thought.”

The teams battled hard in the third, with both getting numerous scoring chances. Melfort was outshot 14-12 in the third, but neither team put one up on the scoreboard, which meant overtime was on the horizon.

La Ronge had the tail-end of a powerplay to begin the overtime period, but were unable to capitalize and end the game. That lead the teams to a shootout where Melfort ended up coming out on top. Isaac Alvarado scored first for Melfort in the shootout, while Zach Anderson extended the lead. Spencer Kennedy and Daylon Mannon missed for La Ronge.

Melfort now sits five points up on La Ronge for second in the Sherwood Division standings.

The Mustangs win was also Trevor Blevins 212th regular season victory as Head Coach of the club. That is now the most in franchise history. You can read more on that story on Wednesday afternoon.

Melfort heads south for two games against Weyburn and Estevan this weekend.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6