(Photo courtesy/Broad Leaf Media, Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

Round 1, Game 1

Mustangs look to strike first against Bruins

Mar 22, 2024 | 11:52 AM

The Melfort Mustangs begin Round 1 of their playoff series Friday night when they play host to the Estevan Bruins.

After nearly a week off from any SJHL action, every team remaining is eager to get the best time of the year underway.

“We’ve had a little bit of time off this week and a few of us had a little bit of an extra break from last weekend, so I think we’re all ready to go…healthy and ready to get this thing started,” explained Mustangs captain, Leith Olafson.

“We’ve been going at it in practice and the intensity has been good leading up to playoffs, so I think we’re all ready to roll, and I think the excitement of it’s kind of kicked in already, so I think we’re all ready to go.”

The last time these two clubs met was in late February, in Melfort, as the Mustangs pulled away with a 7-4 win.

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Estevan is one of only two teams out of the division that the Stangs met with six times, and having come out on top on four of those occasions, it’s a rivalry the Blue and Green are expecting.

“We have a pretty good rivalry with them, so I think it’ll be a good series,” Olafson added. “We’ve had a lot of games against them, but we haven’t been too healthy against them, so I think with our lineup being healthy, this series will be good and I think we’ll be able to take it to them.”

Melfort is hoping they can do just that right off the hop, as the pressure is on them to hold serve as the higher-ranked team on home ice.

According to their leader, however, that’s not how they view it, as it’s just an extension of their season as a whole.

“It starts tonight in game 57, I don’t think there’s any difference, maybe a little bit more excitement and might have the lights off before the game, but I think that’s about it, everything else is the same and I think we’ll just keep our streak going,” Olafson told northeastNOW. “I think if we just play our game and keep doing what we’re doing, I think we’ll be fine.”

The Stangs are entering the postseason as winners of nine of their last 10, while the Bruins have won just five of their last 10 contests.

Opening faceoff for the beginning of the playoffs is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Northern Lights Palace, with the Suncrest College pregame show starting at 7:15 p.m., as every match for the Blue and Green the rest of the way can be heard on 105 CJVR and CJVR.com with Ben Tompkins.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8