(Mat Barrett/Melfort Mustangs)

By Mat Barrett

Pressure Packed

Mustangs fall in shootout to Stars in exciting affair

Dec 4, 2022 | 10:22 AM

Two of the best teams in the SJHL duelled at the Northern Lights Palace on Saturday night in what turned out to be one of the best games of the year so far as the Melfort Mustangs and Battlefords North Stars duked it out.

Battlefords ultimately took home a 5-4 shootout win, but at times the Mustangs may have deserved a better fate.

Mustangs Captain Ben Tkachuk said it was a tough result but they feel like they ran with the Stars for most of the game.

“We want to win every game, so it’s obviously crappy,” he said. “But there’s lots of positives tonight, and three out of four on the weekend is pretty good.”

The only time it seemed that Battlefords had the game by the throat was in the first period when they jumped out to a 2-0 lead after goals from Zane Florence and Steven Kesslering.

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The Mustangs got back into the contest with two goals of their own in the second from Tkachuk and Hayden Tuba to tie things up before the halfway point of the frame. The teams would trade goals the rest of the frame as Zac Somers and Tkachuk scored for the Mustangs and Jordan Gibbs and Kian Bell scored for the Stars.

The scoring dried up in the third period as the teams traded chances and kept fans on the edge of their seats. That would lead to overtime which saw much of the same, chances both ways, big saves from the goaltenders, and exciting moments for fans.

The shootout saw only one goal as Tynan Ewart shot for Battlefords and beat Joel Favreau. None of Riley Ashe, Zac Somers, and Tkachuk could score for Melfort.

The shootout loss gives Melfort points in their last eight games as they drop to 13-8-5-1.

“Things are clicking and we just have to stick to our plan,” Tkachuk said. “And we’ll be back at it again next weekend.

Battlefords improves to 22-0-2-1.

Melfort will head south to take on Estevan and Weyburn next weekend.

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mat.barrett@melfortmustangs.com

On Twitter: @matbarrett6