Hard Fought Loss Finishes Melfort’s Roadtrip

The Mustangs suffered a hard fought loss on the back end of their roadtrip down south. After beating Melville in spectacular overtime fashion the Melfort boys lost by a single goal to the Terriers in regulation time. The ‘Stangs opened the scoring when Reed Gunville capitalized on a power play with help from Kalem Zary and Dakota Boutin, but Yorkton was quick to tie it back up at one. Two quick goals at the start of the second increased their lead to two and resulted in a goaltender switch for Melfort. Derrick Hucul took over and continued his performance from Melville the night before, turning away all 20 shots he faced. Unfortunately, Melfort couldn’t finish the comeback, but did manage to close the gap to one when Adam Hergott finished on a power play with assists going to Boutin and Andrew Thompson.  Melfort went 2/6 on the power play, an aspect of their game that has seen some success this season. With 183 power play opportunities, the Mustangs have capitalized 35 times for a 19.1% success rate, the seventh best in the league. Less than one percent efficiency separates the Mustangs from Estevan and the 5th best power play, and that may be something the team looks to improve on in the second half of the season. With the current battle for 10th to 4th being as tight as it is, special team performance will definitely start to make a difference in the standings. The Mustangs will be back in action Saturday night, when they make the trip to Humboldt for their final game before the Christmas break.