The Melfort Mustangs return home tonight as they welcome the Weyburn Red Wings to Melfort for the first time this season. The Mustangs open a 3 game home stand tonight that sees the Red Wings, Estevan Bruins and La Ronge Ice Wolves in town for their next three games.
The Mustangs enter tonight’s game on a bit of a slide. They’ve won just two times in January and hold a 2-3-3 record in the first month of 2020. With a win tonight the team can end the month of January with a .500 record and will move into Feburary on Saturday. If this looks familiar it might be, because the Mustangs went 2-6-2 in January last season, but responded and won all 10 games in February. Finishing the season on an 11-2 run, almost taking 1st place in the entire SJHL. With February almost upon us the Melfort Boys play the next 3 games at home, as well as 8 of the next 10 at the Northern Lights Palace. They finish the season with 10 home games and just 4 on the road.
The Weyburn Red Wings come into tonight’s game trying to get closer to that 8th and final playoff spot. They currently sit in 10th place, 9 points back of the Estevan Bruins. The Bruins who are on a 8-1-1 run have opened a solid gap for that playoff spot. Despite playing 5-5 in their last 10 the Red Wings have fallen back in the race. Braden Birnie leads the team in scoring, his 21 points put him slightly ahead of Rhett Frey(20) and Dace Prymak(18). The big success story for the Red Wings this season has been the play of goaltender Joseph Young. Since playing his first game at the end of October, Young has a very solid 2.21 GAA and a .935 save percentage on a 10th placed Red Wings team. Added to the SJHL young guns showcase team he’s been great for the Wings.
| SJHL Standings | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | |
| 1 | x – Battlefords North Stars | 47 | 38 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 78 |
| 2 | Flin Flon Bombers | 42 | 27 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 59 |
| 3 | Yorkton Terriers | 47 | 27 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 56 |
| 4 | Melfort Mustangs | 44 | 23 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 52 |
| 5 | Nipawin Hawks | 45 | 24 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 51 |
| 6 | La Ronge Ice Wolves | 45 | 23 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 51 |
| 7 | Humboldt Broncos | 46 | 21 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 49 |
| 8 | Estevan Bruins | 43 | 21 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 46 |
| 9 | Kindersley Klippers | 45 | 17 | 21 | 6 | 1 | 41 |
| 10 | Weyburn Red Wings | 43 | 18 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 37 |
| 11 | Notre Dame Hounds | 45 | 16 | 25 | 3 | 1 | 36 |
| 12 | Melville Millionaires | 44 | 13 | 25 | 2 | 4 | 32 |
Head to Head 2019-20 Season
Sat Oct 19 2019 Melfort – 3 @ Weyburn – 2
Fri Dec 13 2019 Melfort – 2 @ Weyburn – 3
Tue Jan 28 2020 Weyburn @ Melfort
Sat Feb 22 2020 Weyburn @ Melfort
Tonight’s game begins at 7:30pm from the Palace. There’s no radio broadcast but the game can be seen on Hockey TV.
Photo Credit: Broad Leaf Media
