Mustangs' forward Zayden Sadlemyer - middle, and defenceman Bo Eisner - right, are currently representing Melfort at the Viking Cup (Broad Leaf Media/Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

International Competition

Mustangs’ pair understand Viking Cup opportunity

Jan 3, 2026 | 8:56 PM

A pair of Melfort Mustangs could be just hours away from a gold medal at the 2026 Viking Cup.

Forward Zayden Sadlemyer and defenceman Bo Eisner are currently in Camrose, Alta., with Team SJHL, battling the SAIT Trojans in the final game of the tournament.

“I was pretty pumped when I found out we were going, it’s a great opportunity, and it should be really fun,” said Eisner prior to leaving for the event. “It sounds like a really cool experience, and it’s definitely something different over the Christmas season. It’ll be great to face some different competition, as well.”

Sadleymyer and Eisner have played Canadian University and College teams, along with similar teams from the USA and the Czech Republic.

This means they’ve been competing against skaters much older than them, but that sure hasn’t slowed them down.

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“It’s just a different hockey experience, it’s cool to play all those different older guys, it should prepare me for next year and stuff. There will also be some eyes on the tournament, which is great,” Eisner added.

“It’s also really cool to be able to do it with one of my teammates, Sadlemyer is a great guy, so it’s nice to have a familiar face there… I think we should do pretty well. The goal is to win the tournament, but I guess we’ll see how things play out. We don’t really know what to expect from their teams, but I think our expectation is always to win.”

So far, all the SJHL squad has done is win, as they went 4 and 0 in the round-robin to earn a bye, straight to the gold medal game.

Both have been a big part of the group’s success, with Sadlemyer even entering the game leading the team in points with seven.

Production the Blue and Green are missing with their weekend set against the Flin Flon Bombers.

“I think this experience will help a ton, once we come back to Melfort. Obviously fantastic to play against bigger and older guys, they’ll definitely all be strong teams,” Eisner concluded.

“Our Christmas break isn’t that long to begin with, so I don’t mind shortening it to go play. The only weird thing is not being back with the Mustangs, especially playing Flin Flon. I haven’t missed a whole lot of games in my career, so definitely weird not to be there.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8