Mustangs and Hawks ring in the New Year at the Cage
Tonight the Melfort Mustangs (21-12-2-1) open their 2020 schedule as they head to Nipawin to face the Hawks (18-16-2-0)! Tonight’s game from Nipawin is the 7th of 10 meetings between the two teams.
The Mustangs finished 2019 with the annual home and home with the Hawks. The teams split the two meetings, with Melfort winning at home 5-2, before Nipawin won at the cage 2-0. Now, the teams open the New Year with another home and home, starting tonight in Nipawin.
Melfort finished the month of December with a 4-4 record and have fallen slightly in the standings. Now sitting in 5th overall the Mustangs have been passed by Yorkton and La Ronge. As you can see in the standings at the bottom of the page, Melfort has multiple games in hand on both teams and with wins can move right back into third overall.
In net, Tanner Martin played great in December getting 5 of 8 starts in the month. Shawn Parkinson missed the first few games of December with an illness. Martin went 3-2 in 5 starts including a shutout win over Humboldt on Parent/Billet weekend. Martin wrapped up the month with a .908 save percentage and a 2.39 Goals Against Average.
Offensively, the Mustangs had a balanced attack in December. Kenzie Arnold led the way with 7 points, while Kyle Bosch, Tyson Meyers and Adam Nobes each finished with 6. Meyers led the team with 5 goals in December.
Defensively the Mustangs allowed 19 goals in 6 games in December. That’s slightly over 3 per game which is higher than their season average of 2.50 per game. Despite a slight increase, the Mustangs have allowed the fewest goals against in the SJHL at just 93. That’s five fewer then Battleford’s 98.
The Nipawin Hawks come into January after a 2-5 month of December. The worst month of the season for the Hawks as they’ve fallen in the standings as fell. Currently an 18-16-2-0 record has the Hawks in 6th place in the SJHL Standings. They sit 4 points clear of Notre Dame and Kindersley who are tied for the final playoff spot.
Jake Tremblay and Dawson McKenzie lead the Hawks in scoring with 30 points each. Tremblay collected his in 36 games in Nipawin while McKenzie’s came in 27 games split between Kindersley and Nipawin.
| SJHL Standings | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | |
| 1 | Battlefords North Stars | 38 | 30 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 62 |
| 2 | Flin Flon Bombers | 36 | 23 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 51 |
| 3 | Yorkton Terriers | 41 | 24 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 49 |
| 4 | La Ronge Ice Wolves | 39 | 21 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 46 |
| 5 | Melfort Mustangs | 36 | 21 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 45 |
| 6 | Nipawin Hawks | 36 | 18 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 38 |
| 7 | Humboldt Broncos | 36 | 16 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 37 |
| 8 | Kindersley Klippers | 37 | 14 | 17 | 5 | 1 | 34 |
| 9 | Notre Dame Hounds | 38 | 15 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 34 |
| 10 | Estevan Bruins | 35 | 15 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 33 |
| 11 | Melville Millionaires | 37 | 12 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 30 |
| 12 | Weyburn Red Wings | 37 | 14 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 29 |
Tonight’s game begins at 7:30pm from the cage in Nipawin, It can be heard with Mat Barrett on 750 Beach Radio, pre game show starts at 7:15pm! Rematch goes tomorrow back at the Palace in Melfort.
Photo Credit: Broad Leaf Media