(Photo courtesy/Broad Leaf Media, Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

Battlefords North Stars

Mustangs welcoming league’s hottest team to town

Nov 22, 2023 | 2:54 PM

The Melfort Mustangs will play host to the hottest team in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League on Wednesday night when they host the Battlefords North Stars.

The North Stars enter Melfort on a 10-game winning streak, leaping over the Mustangs in the SJHL standings during that span.

According to Mustangs’ forward, Ryan Duguay, they’re eager to try and end that streak, tonight at home.

“They’re on a heater, so they’re gonna come out hard, they don’t want to end that, so we just got to come out harder and take it to them,” he told northeastNOW. “I know it’s always fun to ruin the fun for other teams, so we’re really eager to end the streak.”

For the Stangs, the contest will provide them with an opportunity to win consecutive games for the first time in over a month (Oct. 20).

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The last time they accomplished that feat, the streak began with a 4-1 win over Battlefords (the first and only time the two clubs have met this season), back on Oct. 18.

That North Stars team was a little different than what the Blue and Green can expect on Wednesday, as that was prior to the 10-game win streak and the return of 2022/23 league MVP, Kian Bell, who has 27 points in just 10 games played.

“Well he’s the MVP last year, so he’s a real good player, it’s gonna be a lot different, they’ve had a lot of changes and they’re gonna be a really tough one tonight,” Duguay added. “We just gotta be all over him, he’s got a good shot, they’re a good team, they work hard, so we gotta outwork them, always be on the defensive side of the puck, and back check.”

The next four games for Melfort will be tough, as all will be against the three teams ahead of them in the league standings.

This weekend they will play a home-and-home with the Humboldt Broncos, before travelling to Flin Flon next Wednesday to clash with the Bombers.

“I think it’s a real good stretch for us to test to see what we’re made of and if we can pull off some wins here it would be awesome,” explained Duguay. “It’s important to start it off well tonight… it’s not too fun winning one and losing one, so we’re going to try to get a bit of a streak here, it’s fun winning and we want to come to the rink having fun every day.”

The Mustangs are coming off their parent-billet weekend, in which they earned a split.

On Friday they lost a 2-1 decision to the Nipawin Hawks, before rallying for an 8-5 victory against the Yorkton Terriers on Saturday.

Their annual Calcutta shootout occurred after the win to conclude the weekend, which featured a former member of the organization in Travis Mayan, as the night’s mystery shooter.

Mayan (who spent three years with the club) was a part of the ‘Minion Line’ alongside Tristan Frei and Justin Boer, who led the team to back-to-back titles in 2014-15 and 2015-16. Mayan ranks third all-time in franchise history with 105 career goals.

Wednesday’s matchup begins at 7:30 p.m., as Joey Hawco will take the net for Battlefords, after their former number-one goalie, Justen Maric, returned to the WHL.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @BenTompkins_8