(Broad Leaf Media/Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

Impressive Class

New wave of former Mustangs looking to make their mark at USports level

Aug 18, 2025 | 5:30 PM

A lot of former Melfort Mustangs are set to make their university hockey debuts this coming fall, as they make the jump from the CJHL to USports.

In total, nine players who once donned the Blue and Green committed to university teams across the country, just this year alone, as they’ll now go from teammates to opponents and friends to foes.

“The group of 20s we had this year, we were just a different breed, it was awesome. A great group of guys who were all dialled in, and it’s just amazing to see that we’re all moving on and are gonna keep playing hockey,” said Logan Belton, who committed to Brock University last month.

“Obviously, it’d be super cool to line up against any of them in the future, whether it’s the guys out in Canada West or in the OUA. Those are the boys, we played multiple years together, so it’d be great to meet up again in the future.”

Five Mustangs from this past year’s team committed to Canada West, which included captain Ty Thornton (University of Alberta), assistant captains Zac Somers and Nic Andrusiak (University of Saskatchewan), Reilley Kotai (University of British Columbia), and Zach Turner (University of Manitoba).

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Meanwhile, Belton will be heading to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference, along with Nolan Roberts (University of Guelph).

As for James Venne, he played in Melfort two seasons ago, but will be making his debut at the U of S this fall.

“It just goes to show that the players that are produced in Melfort are pretty darn good. There are lots of other former Mustangs who have already been at the U Sports level for a year or more, and I’ll likely be seeing even more former teammates at this level in the next couple of years as well,” Belton added.

“I really enjoyed my time as a Mustang, and I know everyone else around me did as well. I won’t ever forget my time in Melfort, it was genuinely probably the best three years of my life, and I’m really excited to move on to Brock, but I won’t ever forget what the Blue and Green did for me.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

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