Tanner Martin shows off the puck from his first SJHL shutout. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Martin's First Shutout

Martin gets first shutout in Mustang victory over Hounds

Sep 28, 2019 | 9:01 AM

It was the Tanner Martin show on Friday, Sept. 27 in Melfort as the Mustangs and the Notre Dame Hounds battled in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) action.

The Mustangs defeated the Hounds 2-0 in the game giving Melfort their fifth win in a row, while also in the process earning St. Brieux native, and Mustang goaltender Tanner Martin his first career SJHL shutout. He stopped 38 shots, more than a few of them were major stops to keep the Hounds at zero including one late.

“It feels awesome,” Martin said. “Good way to start off the year that’s for sure, happy with the team and how they’re playing, got really good defence, they help me out quite a bit on the back end.”

Nolan Kadachuk opened the scoring for the Mustangs at the 7:18 mark of the first period with a seeing eye shot that found it’s way past Riley Kohonick of the Hounds. Exactly eight minutes later, a two-on-one chance for the Mustangs had Ben Tkachuk slide one to Marco Lopez who tapped in his second of the season to make it 2-0. After that, the offence seemed to dry up, but the physicality picked up in bunches. A Kenzie Arnold and Dawson Blanchette fight with seconds to go in the frame sparked even more nastiness in the second and third period. A total of 92 minutes in penalties were handed out, the majority of which being roughing penalties.

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After starting the year 0-2, Melfort has now rattled off five straight victories; something that Martin said is a result of the team gelling together more.

“Just the group of guys we have, they’re all starting to combine together and work as a team so it’s helping us out quite a bit.”

Melfort will take on Notre Dame again on Saturday, Sept. 28 in Wilcox.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6