(Image Credit: File photo/northeastNOW)

By Ben Tompkins

Holes to Fill

Mustangs host Spring Camp

Mar 31, 2026 | 5:47 PM

The Melfort Mustangs hosted their annual Spring Camp this past weekend, with one of the days falling on the club’s Game 5 loss in Battlefords.

With the organization’s first-round exit, as well as eight players graduating (aging out), the focus has now turned to the future.

“Overall, the camp went very well. It’s always nice when you can have a home playoff game during spring camp; unfortunately, this year, that just didn’t work out for us, but we were happy with the turnout. Overall, the quality was very good, and it was very competitive,” said Mustangs’ Director of Player Personnel, Rick Oakes.

“We’re losing a large portion of our forward group with those 20-year-olds departing, so that’s definitely going to be a priority, and we need to add some pieces on the back end as well. We are pretty confident the prospects we have on our list and have coming in to compete for spots, though, so overall, I think we’re in very good shape, and we’re looking forward to getting started in the fall.”

In total, 110 players, born from 2008 to 2012, made up six full teams at Spring Camp.

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According to Oakes, there were a couple of pleasant surprises at camp, while the mainstays did what they were expected to and will likely carry the water again come the fall camp.

“I think it’s a little bit easier to recruit with the recent success of our organization, but there are still 11 other teams in our league, as well as numerous other teams across Western Canada, who do a very good job in their scouting as well. With that said, we definitely still have to work hard to get those recruits in and fill those holes left from our graduating class,” Oakes added.

“The last few years have been very special in a lot of ways, and some pretty important pieces are moving out after winning two championships in three years. As much as we’re sad to see them go, the process to replace them has to get started at some point. We’re going to miss those guys a lot, but we’re pretty confident we’ve got some guys that can step in and fill the holes and carry the torch moving forward.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8