(Mat Barrett/Melfort Mustangs)

By Mat Barrett

Clinched

Mustangs officially punch ticket to playoffs with dominating win over Millionaires

Feb 18, 2023 | 9:31 AM

The Melfort Mustangs are officially into the SJHL Playoffs after a dominating 7-1 win over the Melville Millionaires on Friday night.

While the likelihood of the Mustangs was still quite high heading into the contest, this win does put the “x” by their name to officially punch that ticket into the dance.

Mustangs Head Coach and Trevor Blevins said that it’s nice to clinch a spot, but there’s a bigger picture.

“We’re not satisfied with just that,” he said. “We want to get higher in the standings for sure. We’re playing some good hockey here and hopefully it continues.”

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It was a hard-fought first few minutes of the first period on Friday night as each team had a few solid chances, and the Millionaires were going toe to toe with the visiting Mustangs. Although penalty trouble hurt the Millionaires from the get-go as a Zac Somers powerplay goal made it 1-0 Mustangs and they would take off from there in the second period.

Clarke Huxley scored less than a minute into the second, while Ben Tkachuk and Leyton Holoien scored less than a minute apart around the 10-minute mark of the frame, and all of a sudden it was 4-0 for the Mustangs.

The powerplay continued to strike for the Mustangs in the third as they expanded their lead. Somers, Kevin Minnoch, and Huxley all scored on the powerplay in the third to get things to 7-0 before the Millionaires broke Joel Favreau’s shutout as Carter McKay tipped one home on the powerplay.

The Melfort powerplay exploded for a 4/8 night with the man advantage after going 2/18 in the month of February to this point.

“I thought we were pretty assertive with the puck,” Blevins said regarding his teams powerplay. “Moved it around, didn’t stand still too much.”

After Friday’s results, Melfort is now tied for fourth place with La Ronge, but hold two games in hand. They also remain four points back of Humboldt and Flin Flon for second and third in the SJHL standings.

Melfort and Melville will do it all over again on Saturday in Melfort at the Palace. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m.

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matbarrett@melfortmustangs.com

On Twitter: @matbarrett6