By Mat Barrett

Melfort Mustangs

Ball’s 50th helps Mustangs win seventh in a row

Feb 21, 2019 | 9:29 AM

The Melfort Mustangs have now won seven games in a row in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).

On Wednesday, Feb. 20, the Mustangs defeated the Melville Millionaires on the road 6-4 to give them 70 points in the SJHL standings.

Melfort opened the scoring in the hockey game just two minutes in when George King notched his ninth as a Mustang. Carson Albrecht also tallied a goal late in the first period, giving the Mustangs a 2-0 lead after one period. Melfort also had a 16-7 lead on the shot clock as they dominated the first 20 minutes.

Melville came back firing as Luke Nkwama and Josh Borynec scored to have things tied 2-2 just over seven minutes in. However, the Mustangs seemed to smarten up, getting goals from Albrecht, and Justin Ball to have the two-goal-lead restored after the second frame. Head Coach Trevor Blevins said it was another case of a short span where the Mustangs took the foot off the gas.

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“We did play very well in the first,” Blevins said. “I thought we had a good edge to our game, our compete level was where it needed to be. I’m not so sure if the guys looked up at the shot and thought it might be an easy night tonight. You know Melville responded though in the second, they were a lot heavier than they were in the first. I just think it took those first eight minutes for us to get going again, but really I thought the last half of the period we were pretty good.”

Balls goal was his 50th of the season as he becomes just the third SJHL player since 2000, and first since 2010/2011 to score 50 goals in a season.

Kayle Tosh scored 15 seconds into the third to expand the Mustang lead to 5-3, but Melville was not going down easy. Sam De Melo and Luke Spadafora score for the hometown Millionaires, making it 5-4 with about seven minutes to play. The Mustangs held the Millionaires at bay for the most part late in the frame, and with 22 seconds left, Colin Schmidt sealed the deal with an empty net goal.

Blevins said on the attack during the game, and especially late, his team was very good.

“Offensively, I thought we generated quite a bit,” Blevins said. “We did a great job controlling the offensive zone lots of times. Especially when we had to hunker down and make sure when it was 5-4 to keep the puck deep and we really chewed the clock for the last five, six minutes and did a good job managing that situation.”

The win moves Melfort to 33-15-4-0 on the year, and are alone in fifth place in the standings when it comes to playoff positioning. The Mustangs next game action will be on Friday, Feb. 22 when they head to Humboldt for a meeting with the Broncos.

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Photo: (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

mat.barrett@jpbg.ca