(Photo courtesy/Melfort Minor Hockey Association, Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

Back-to-back

U18 Mustangs win league championship

Mar 29, 2023 | 12:34 PM

The U18 Melfort Mustangs hockey team are back-to-back North East Minor Hockey League (NEMHL) champions.

The Mustangs won their second consecutive league title Saturday night against the PARK (Porcupine Plain, Archerwill, Rose Valley, and Kelvington) Posse 2-1.

Melfort, who finished third in the standings (12-6), swept the final series 2-0 on home ice against the top-ranked team (16-1-1) in the league.

Their club also has nine graduating players who are now ending their career’s on top.

“It’s exciting for the kids, that’s for sure,” said head coach Dave Stewart. “Their hard work paid off for them again this year and it’s really exciting for them. We have lots of graduating players this year, so for them to be able to win back to back like that it’s a nice way to finish off their hockey career.”

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And winning the title the previous year, the Mustangs brought experience and talent, heading into this season.

Stewart explained this year may have even been harder to win, as the target was on their back.

“I think this year was actually a little bit trickier. We had a small team this year and we had some injuries at the beginning of the year, so we had kind of a slow start to the season if you will. But second half of the season, everybody kind of got together and worked together to accomplish what we wanted to do and it paid off for them,” he said.

“I think the teams looked at us as someone they had to beat being that we did win it last year and we had a lot of returning players from last year as well.”

Melfort swept the Carrot River Loggers in their first round series (2-0) before coming back against Birch Hills/Kinistino in the second round, with wins in game two and three.

Stewart added his club played as a team and stepped up when it mattered, to make sure they defended what was their’s.

“Every player on the team bought into what we wanted to accomplish and it paid off in the end. It was a team effort and every single player on the team put a full effort in come playoffs… and when it came time to play them (PARK) we buckled down.”

Other league winners include the U15 Nipawin Hawks, the Naicam Vikings (U11 B-side), the Melfort Colts (U9 B-side), and the Melfort Mustangs (U9 A-side).

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8