Looking for 10, Mustangs in ND tonight
The Melfort Mustangs are back on the road tonight for a quick trip to Notre Dame, looking to push their win streak to 10 games. The Mustangs begin the stretch for playoffs with their final 4 games of the regular season. That will see the team play 3 of their final 4 on the road with games in Notre Dame, Nipawin and Flin Flon still left. The Mustangs will host the Hawks one more time before the season comes to an end.
For the Mustangs they’ve been the hottest team in the SJHL. Now having won 9 straight they look for their second double digit win streak of the season. The Mustangs won 10 straight between Nov 7th and Nov 27th and have an opportunity to match that tonight. Justin Ball has hit the century mark on the season now with 100 points. With 52 goals and 48 assists he leads the SJHL in both goals and points. Carson Albrecht has had an amazing month of February as well. Along with committing to North Dakota for next season Albrecht has been named SJHL Player of the Week for picking up 8 points in 3 Mustang wins. In February he has 18 points in 9 games and should have a shot at SJHL Player of the Month. Between the pipes both Noah Giesbrecht and Shawn Parkinson have been great. Since the win streak started Gisebrecht is 4-0 and has only allowed 10 goals in those 4 games. He picked up the only Mustang shutout of the season as well. While Parkinson is also 4-0 in February he’s slammed the door shut. AP goalie Tanner Martin has the other win during the win streak beating La Ronge in early February.
The Notre Dame Hounds come into the final stretch of games with a 4-0-1-0 record in their last 5 games. Notre Dame has been making a real push and has now passed Yorkton for 8th place in the standings. This is significant because it gives ND home ice in the survivor series against the Terriers. The two teams will play a best of 3 series to open the playoffs with the winner of the series getting either the 1st or 2nd placed team in the SJHL Quarter Finals. The Hounds top line of Wilton-Breault-Penner have been their most potent offensive weapons this season. With a combined 161 points the trio have led the Hounds all season and kept them fighting not only for better playoff positioning but with the top teams in the Global Ag Risk Solutions Divisions. In goal, the addition of Matt Lukacs at the trade deadline has paid off. He’s 6-1 in 7 starts and has a .923 Save Percentage. Riley Kohonick is still the presumed starter having played in 11 games since the deadline. The 2000 born goalie is 11-8-5-2 on the season with a 2.87 GAA and a .912 Save Percentage.
Tonight’s game will be broadcast on CK750 with Mat Barrett. Note the start time tonight it’s an 8pm game in Notre Dame. It’s one of only 2 games all season that aren’t starting at 7:30pm.