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James Venne stopped 4 of 5 Flyers in the shootout en route to a 6-5 victory (Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW)
One for the books

Mustangs win wild shootout affair over Winkler

May 12, 2024 | 9:36 AM

The Melfort Mustangs just completed one of their most entertaining games of the year, and it just so happened to be at the Centennial Cup.

Maybe that’s not much of a surprise, as they battled a top-five-ranked team in the country.

In what was a wild back-and-forth affair, it was the Mustangs who came out on top, by a score of 6-5 in a shootout.

“To be honest, in the first two periods we didn’t really like how we were playing, we weren’t playing in-your-face SJHL hockey, hard and with grit, but a win is a win and we’ll take that, and now we’ll focus on the next one,” said assistant coach Tye Scherger.

“We’ve come back in games all season, we have such good guys that are just driven in there and they want it more than anyone else, and obviously that showed tonight.”

Melfort was down 2-0 after the first 20 minutes of play, before making it all square at 3, heading into the third period.

The Stangs then took a 5-3 lead, however, the Flyers came right back to tie it and send it to extra frames.

Overtime then solved nothing, as Ryan Duguay and Clay Sleeva scored in the shootout, while James Venne stopped four of five to shut the door on Winkler.

“The thing about Venne is that he’s so calm and patient, I actually told (Trevor) Blevins that we wanted to go to a shootout because of how calm he is back there,” Scherger added.

“This game was for the top of Group B and I’m glad we came out on top. From top to bottom, everyone was going at some point, so it’s awesome and it showed.”

The Blue and Green will now get a full off day, as they’re set to hit the Hockey Hall of Fame and catch a Toronto Blue Jays game on Saturday.

Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8

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