(Submitted photo/Tim Johnstone)

By Ben Tompkins

Champions at every level

U15 Mustangs win league championship, provincial gold

Apr 1, 2025 | 8:20 PM

The U15 Melfort Mustangs had a near perfect season.

Melfort lost just twice all year, one of which came to the U15 Melfort Colts in league play, before the two teams combined to win provincial gold.

“Last week, we advanced to the league finals against the other Melfort team and we were the top two teams in the league all year. They hadn’t lost yet and we had only lost once, which came against them. At the end we met in the final and we took both games against them to win the league championship,” explained U15 Mustangs head coach Tim Johnstone.

“We’ve been coaching and watching these kids play hockey for probably 10 years now and they not only have top end talent but they work really hard, so it was a lot of fun to put them together and see how things went. We stumbled out of the gate a bit but figured it out really quick and then it was over for the other team from there.”

The Mustangs/Colts combined team played Muenster in the league final over the weekend, splitting their first pair of games.

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It then came down to a 10-minute mini-game in Melfort on Saturday, with the home team winning it in sudden-death overtime.

“If nobody’s winning after the mini-game is over, you go to sudden death, and that’s what happened to us. There was no score, and then we scored two minutes in. We were really in control of that game and I think we outshot them 13-2, so we were quite calm. When you get to sudden death, though, it gets a little nerve-wracking,” Johnstone added.

“It was kind of over before they really had a chance and I don’t think Muenster even crossed our blueline. The boys were really excited when that goal went in.”

Melfort had 25 kids registered for U15 this season, so the coaching staff felt it was better to split the team in two, giving the kids more playing time.

In the end it all worked out according to Johnstone, as all of them were mentally prepared and much more advanced than they would have been, had they kept a deep bench.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8