(File Photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Melfort Mustangs AGM

‘We’re going to have to rely on the community’: Mustangs take AGM online for 2020

Sep 19, 2020 | 9:59 AM

The Melfort Mustangs decided not to hold a public, in-person Annual General Meeting this year due to COVID-19.

However, the team did post financial reports, as well as the Presidents, Governors, and Coaches report heading into the 2020-2021 season.

Off the ice, the Mustangs seem to be in a good spot financially.

“We were pretty optimistic going into playoffs,” said president Chad Elliott. “Where usually that playoff is your carrot, if you want to say, your extra of getting yourself in a better position moving forward into the next season.”

All in all, the Mustangs made $100,000 less than they did in 2019, making it all the way to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) finals. However, while revenue was down, the team still made almost $8,000 in 2020. That surplus, combined with the surplus from 2019, leaves the Mustangs with about $25,000 in unrestricted net assets heading into the 2020-2021 season.

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The Mustangs weren’t immune to the effects of COVID-19 as it ended their season early in March, and they did use the resources available from the federal government and the provincial government. The team dipped into the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy to get some help, and they also got a small business loan through the Canadian Government. According to the financial reports posted by the team, the loan is worth around $40,000 and it’s to be paid back by 2022. Elliott said they’ll have to manage themselves a bit more to make sure that loan can be paid back. The Mustangs were also able to get some provincial grants to support them during this time.

Fundraising wise, the Mustangs were unable to do some of their usual fundraisers through the summer including their usual season ticket blitz and Trip of the Month lottery. Elliott also added that their comedy night fundraiser in December is up in the air for now. Although, the team was able to have some success with their new ‘Feed the Mustangs’ venture.

“We found some land, and a person that was willing to donate part of that land,” Elliott said. “And then we had a lot of people put some time and great value into this farm, and we actually turned a decent profit out of it this year.”

Looking ahead, Elliott said there are still lots of questions as to how the upcoming season will look and how the arena will look, but he said there’s a great Board of Directors that put in a lot of effort and they’ll be able to navigate this season.

“It’s a community-run team,” he said. “And we’re going to have to rely on the community, and for everything, we are grateful of the community. We’ll struggle through it, but we’ll see hockey again in the Northern Lights Palace this winter.”

On the ice, the Mustangs are coming off a season where they finished in third place in the SJHL. They were up 3-1 in their best of seven quarter-final series against the Estevan Bruins before COVID-19 brought things to a halt.

Looking into 2020-2021, the Mustangs made a couple of trades in the offseason, most notably trading forward Christian Albertson and a prospect to Nipawin to complete a futures trade. They also made trades to acquire 2000-born forward Leighton Burns-Marion, and 2001-born goalie Steven Bacovsky. There is also a nice class of recruits coming in, according to head coach and general manager Trevor Blevins.

“We’re happy with the fact that we’ve had an excellent recruiting season in Alberta and Saskatchewan,” he said. “And we’re excited for the guys that we brought in, they’ve had a lot of success. It’s always a fun time of year, if and when that gets going.”

Fall camp would have normally taken place about two weeks before the regular season begins, but with the SJHL’s start date still up in the air (tentative date still remains Oct. 9 pending approval), the Mustangs and a number of other SJHL teams continue to wait. Once camp does get going, there are still a number of guidelines that need to be followed to limit the spread of COVID-19. The major rule is that only 30 players will be allowed on the ice at one time, but Blevins doesn’t think things will look overly different.

“We’ll be able to bring in enough talent and people to push for spots to definitely ice a competitive hockey team,” he said. “I don’t think that’ll be a concern. Hopefully, we’ll have some exhibition games and the league will start sooner rather than later.”

As for who is looking to join the Mustangs this season, the St. Albert Raiders are a good spot to start. Blevins said there are three players signed from that U18 AAA club right now, highlighted by forward Ronnie Pusch who led the team in goals in 2019/2020. A few other big signings include forwards Dylan McFatridge, who played his AAA in Edmonton last year, as well as Chestermere, Alta.’s Ethan McKibbin, who played his AAA in Okotoks. Martensville native Ty Albrecht was an affiliate for the Mustangs last season and is expected to compete for a spot as well.

Defensively, the Mustangs are bringing back a number of returnees on the back end, but some size is coming from the rookie crop including 6-foot-5 Tyler Moline out of Edmonton.

Blevins said his 2002 and 2003 crop is going to be very fast with a high compete level, something he’s focused on as the coach of the Mustangs.

While Melfort looks to have a strong crop of rookies this year, Blevins said a rebuild shouldn’t be expected this year. He said the veterans are needed to be competitive now, but he’ll use his young players a lot as well to get them developed for the future.

“I like to win every year, and who doesn’t,” _{-Trevor Blevins}

While everyone is excited for hockey to come back at some point, the threat of COVID-19 still remains in the world, and Blevins acknowledged that. He said the team will have to discipline for the season to go ahead.

“If this is what we’ve got to do to get going, then we’re comfortable doing that,” he said. “Everyone’s just going to have to buy into the little extra work that it’s going to be to possibly have hockey start and to finish.”

The governor’s report can also be found the Mustangs AGM files online and it showed a few rule changes heading into the 2020-2021 season.

Firstly, on a coincidental minor penalty call, teams will automatically play 4-on-4 rather than 5-on-5 for the duration of those penalties. It’s expected to help open up the ice this year. Next, linesman will drop the puck at all times, except for the opening faceoff. This is expected to help sightlines for officials on the faceoff. And lastly, all puck deflected out of play in the attacking zone, will remain in the zone no matter which team deflected the puck out. This rule is to enhance scoring chances, and cause less of a debate on faceoff locations.