(Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW)

By Ben Tompkins

Shootout Loss

Mustangs finish regular season with 80 points, facing Bruins in first round of playoffs

Mar 17, 2024 | 11:21 AM

The Melfort Mustangs concluded their regular season on Saturday afternoon with a tilt against the La Ronge Ice Wolves.

After officially clinching second place in the SJHL standings the previous Sunday, Melfort didn’t have too much to play for in their final game.

Despite that fact, along with dressing just 11 forwards on the day, five of whom were affiliated players, the Mustangs made quite a game of it.

“Everyone had a good effort, especially the young bucks coming in, everyone did a hell of a job, they played well defensively, they played smart, they worked hard in the offensive zone and they brought some edge, so that’s awesome. We have a really bright future ahead of us,” explained assistant coach Tye Scherger.

“Obviously, that meant our young guys stepping up in those first and second-line roles and they did good, that’s a good experience for them to get more comfortable so when it comes to playoff time they’re ready to go.”

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The 2-1 shootout loss, against their opponent’s full roster, gave the Blue and Green a point, pushing them to 80 on the year.

Kristian Coombs’s performance, in what will likely be his last start of the year, helped propel his team in the afternoon contest, as he made 28 saves.

“At times, we were a little bit shaky in our D zone and Coomer stood on his head, he made some big saves and kudos to him. He’s been a good role for our team being a backup, he’s staying positive and for him to finally get in there, he did awesome and I’m proud of that,” Scherger told northeastNOW.

With the 2023/24 regular season in the books, the focus turns to this coming Friday, which will be day one of the postseason.

The Northern Lights Palace will play host to games one and two, as the second-best team has earned the privilege of home-ice advantage.

“Back to work now, it’s awesome and this is exciting stuff here. We’ll find out who we get in the first round and we’ll zone in and focus on them and we’ll be working hard and getting ready to face them,” added Scherger.

“We finished the season with 80 points, so that’s awesome, we had a good year, proud of the guys, especially considering we’ve been injured for pretty much the whole year, so lots of character guys with a ton of heart and just excited for the run here.”

After the Estevan Bruins won later in the day, with the Kindersley Klippers also losing for good measure, that made it clear who the Stangs would face in round one.

Estevan will be the organization’s first test in their hopes of going on a championship run, as they have six games of familiarity to look back on.

Both home and away games will be broadcast on the radio, as Ben Tompkins will have you covered for every moment of the playoffs on CJVR.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

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