(Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW)

By Ben Tompkins

Weekend Matchup

Mustangs lose first of home and home against Broncos

Nov 25, 2023 | 9:04 AM

The Melfort Mustangs played the Humboldt Broncos for the first time on Friday night and suffered a 5-2 defeat.

The contest marked the first of a home-and-home set, as Melfort will now travel to Humboldt on Saturday.

Friday night’s contest was a back-and-forth affair as each team traded goals for the first 40 minutes, with the Mustangs trailing 3-2 after two periods of play.

In the third, however, it was all Broncos, at least on the score sheet, as despite being outshot 23-5, they scored twice (one of which was an empty netter), to come away with the three-goal win.

“We were working hard but just couldn’t bear down on our chances and a couple of breakdowns costed us,” explained Stangs’ forward, Logan Belton.

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In total, the Blue and Green threw 45 shots on net throughout the evening, which was nearly double their opposition, who had just 23.

Unfortunately, the Green and Gold’s backup netminder, Aidan Fischer was fantastic and ended up being the thorn in their side.

“Ultimately, we got to take his eyes away and just gotta bang pucks in any way we can,” Belton added. “If we want to win, we just got to work hard, move the puck fast, and just get pucks in the net and try to score.”

To add insult to injury, two Melfort players were removed during the game because they were hurt (Ryan Duguay and Jeremy Gagnon), as the Mustangs had to shake up their lines for the final two periods.

This included putting Belton on the top line and number one powerplay unit, which as a team only went 1 for 7 on the night, including 0 for 5 in the last frame.

“A lot of boys are banged up, and for our next game, other guys got to step up and fill their shoes,” Belton told northeastNOW.

Saturday will mark the second of six matchups on the season between the two out-of-division rivals, as well as the second of four games in a row for the Mustangs against teams above them in the standings.

According to Belton, both of these are extra motivators for his club to try and get back in the win column.

“They’re our rivals, we love and hate playing against them and we just want to beat them, so Saturday is a big game,” he said.

“We got to bounce back and we got to get on a roll again because we know what we can do when we’re playing good… we got to get back to what we’re good at and get some points here.”

The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. sharp at the Elgar Petersen Arena.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @BenTompkins_8