The Melfort Mustangs return to home ice tonight for their first home game following the January 10th trade deadline. The new look Mustangs meet the La Ronge Ice Wolves following a tough week with only one game.
The Mustangs dropped a 9-0 decision to the Flin Flon Bombers on Saturday, after the home game with the Bombers was postponed due to poor weather conditions. Vaclav Propsal will make his first appearance at the Northern Lights Palace tonight after being acquired from the AJHL on January 9th.
With a win tonight the Mustangs can jump back into 4th place in the SJHL standings. Still with 4 games in hand on La Ronge, and 7 in hand on Yorkton.
The La Ronge Ice Wolves come into tonight’s game after falling to the Nipawin Hawks twice this weekend. Not only did they lose on Friday night live on Sasktel 7-1, they followed that up with an 8-2 defeat to Nipawin at home the following night. The once hottest team in the SJHL has now dropped 3 straight games to Sher-Wood division rivals in January.
The SJHL also released, the 3 rosters the league will be sending to the SJHL/MJHL showcase next week. The Mustangs will be sending 9 players to the showcase, tied for the most in the league with the first placed Battleford North Stars. Shawn Parkinson is the only returning Mustang who took part in this same event last year. Kenzie Arnold, Nolan Kadachuk, Alex Rondeau, Tian Rask, Kyle Bosch, Lucas Ochitwa, Tanner Martin and Ben Tkachuk will also take part for the first time.
Team Schwartz will feature the 2001 and 2002 born SJHL players, which includes G-Tanner Martin, FW- Ben Tkachuk and D- Lucas Ochitwa. Team Kunitz is one of two SJHL teams that feature the 1999 and 2000 born players. They include Mustangs FW-Kenzie Arnold, FW- Kyle Bosch, FW-Tian Rask, D-Alex Rondeau, D-Nolan Kadachuk and G-Shawn Parkinson.
Trevor Blevins will also be back at the showcase as he coaches Team Kunitz alongside the Battlefords Brayden Klimosko.
Head to Head 2019-20 Season
Sept 17 2019 – Melfort 6 @ La Ronge 4
Oct 1 2019 – Melfort 3 @ La Ronge 4 F/OT
Nov 20 2019 – La Ronge 3 @ Melfort 1
Nov 29 2019 – La Ronge 0 @ Melfort 3
Nov 30 2019 – Melfort 0 @ La Ronge 3
Dec 10 2019 – Melfort 4 @ La Ronge 3 F/SO
Jan 15 2020 – La Ronge @ Melfort
Feb 5 2020 – La Ronge @ Melfort
SJHL Standings | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | |
1 | Battlefords North Stars | 42 | 33 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 68 |
2 | Yorkton Terriers | 47 | 27 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 56 |
3 | Flin Flon Bombers | 39 | 25 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 55 |
4 | La Ronge Ice Wolves | 43 | 22 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 49 |
5 | Melfort Mustangs | 39 | 22 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 48 |
6 | Nipawin Hawks | 42 | 23 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 48 |
7 | Humboldt Broncos | 41 | 19 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 44 |
8 | Estevan Bruins | 39 | 18 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 40 |
9 | Kindersley Klippers | 42 | 15 | 21 | 5 | 1 | 36 |
10 | Notre Dame Hounds | 41 | 15 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 34 |
11 | Weyburn Red Wings | 40 | 16 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 33 |
12 | Melville Millionaires | 41 | 13 | 22 | 2 | 4 | 32 |
Tonight’s game starts at 7:30pm and there will be no radio broadcast. You can catch the game on HockeyTV if you’re out of town.
Following tonight’s game the Mustangs open a home and home with the Humboldt Broncos this weekend. Friday night they meet in Melfort before heading to Humboldt on Saturday.
Photo Credit: Broad Leaf Media