(Photo courtesy/Broad Leaf Media, Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

Long Bus Ride

Mustangs excited for last road trip to Flin Flon

Nov 29, 2023 | 10:55 AM

The Melfort Mustangs will cross over the Manitoba border and into Flin Flon for the final time on Wednesday, this regular season.

For the second time this month, the Mustangs will visit the Whitney Forum and face the number-one-ranked Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) team, in the Flin Flon Bombers.

“Been dreading this bus trip for a third time,” joked Stangs’ defenceman, Cole Unger when asked about the four/four and a half hour drive up North.

A shorthanded Melfort group (seven players out) gave the Bombers everything they could handle back on Nov. 2, just narrowly suffering a 5-4 defeat in regulation.

That was one of seven wins this month for the SJHL’s leading club, as they’ve lost just once in November (a 2-1 OT loss in Melville last Saturday).

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Meanwhile, for the Stangs, they have been playing much better as of late, winning three of their last four, including two over teams above them in the standings.

Tonight’s action actually marks their fourth (and final) contest in a row, against clubs they are currently chasing.

“It’s always motivation to take down the top team, always want to be the team to take them down, so I think the guys are pretty pumped up for that and it’ll be a good game,” Unger added. “We’re feeling pretty good right now and it’s always nice to climb up in the standings.”

With this being the third matchup between these two organizations, each side has come out victorious so far, with Melfort winning 2-1 in overtime on opening weekend.

The Mustangs will also hope to carry some momentum over from Saturday’s comeback victory over the Broncos in Humboldt, in which they had eight guys out.

That scenario put Unger on the second defensive line, pairing him up with Nolan Henderson, who ended up getting his first two goals on the season.

While the Blue and Green won’t be quite that banged up tonight, they will be without their top point-getter in Ryan Duguay, who would have been one of four of the five highest scorers in the league during this game.

“We just got to play simple tonight, it’s a smaller barn, so just got to get pucks deep, scratch it out, and try and make some offence from down-low,” Unger told northeastNOW. “Things just clicked (between Henderson and I), seem to be well together and pretty dynamic, so hopefully I get to play with him again.”

Flin Flon won’t cross the Saskatchewan border until the new year when the Bombers become visitors of the Northern Lights Palace once in January, February, and March.

Wednesday’s game begins at 7:30 p.m. Manitoba time, which is now the same as Saskatchewan time, and can be heard on 105 CJVR, starting with the pregame show at 7:15 p.m.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8