(Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Mustangs defeat Bombers

Mustangs tame Bomber offence, reclaim first in Sherwood Division

Oct 30, 2019 | 9:19 AM

It didn’t take long for the Melfort Mustangs to be back atop the Sherwood Division standings in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).

After falling to the Nipawin Hawks on Saturday, Oct. 26, the Mustangs dropped to second in the division after the Flin Flon Bombers defeated Kindersley that same night.

Those same Bombers stood in the Mustangs way on Tuesday, Oct. 29, and it was the Mustangs walking away with the two points to jump back into first place after a 4-1 win at the Whitney Forum in Flin Flon.

“Man, we made a statement tonight,” Mustangs Head Coach Trevor Blevins said. “I thought every guy pretty much competed their hearts out today.”

It didn’t start well for the Mustangs as they gave up a goal on their first shot allowed in the game. Caleb Franklin fed a nice pass to Brandon Cianflone who put the puck passed Mustang netminder Tanner Martin to make it 1-0. After that point, Melfort took over, outshooting Flin Flon 17-6 in the period. Deklan Whillans picked up the rebound after a Gabe Odowichuk shot to tie it at one. That was followed by Ryley Lanthier doing it by himself as he dangled through about four Bombers before sliding one five-hole by Bomber goalie Jacob Delorme giving Melfort a 2-1 lead after one period.

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The second period was a bit of a strange one as neither team had a ton of sustained zone time, and neither had too many – if any at all – scoring chances. Both teams had two powerplays, but were unsuccessful.

With things still at 2-1 heading into the third, Melfort put the pedal down and put the game out of reach. Greg Parker fired what seemed to be a harmless shot from the point that found it’s way through and past Delorme to make it 3-1 Melfort. Christian Albertson put the icing on the cake halfway through the frame as he walked off the right-wing half wall and ripped a shot passed Delorme to make it 4-1. Flin Flon only managed one shot in the period until the dying seconds where they tallied two.

Melfort had 19 shots in the final frame, and outshot the Bombers 41-18 in the contest, taming the second highest scoring offence. Melfort also held the Bombers top line of Alec Malo, Donovan Houle, and Cole Rafuse to zero points in the contest. The trio sits first, tied for third, and fifth in SJHL scoring. Blevins said even when they didn’t get the right matchup, everybody stepped up defensively.

“Everyone stepped up and recognized who they were out against,” he said. “We were a smart, intelligent group tonight, we did what we had to do, everyone bought in and we adjusted.”

He called it the teams most complete performance of the season.

“As far as a road game for us, I don’t know if it gets any better than that,” Blevins told northeastNOW. “Other than right off the bat we gave up that odd man rush, or a couple of them, but we cleaned that up.”

With the win, Melfort sits one point ahead of Flin Flon for first in the Sherwood Divison, and second in the SJHL with a 12-4-2-1 record. The Bombers fall to 12-4-2-0. The rivals meet again in Melfort on Thursday.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6