By Mat Barrett

Penalties hurt Mustangs in road loss to Bombers

Jan 13, 2019 | 11:56 AM

It was a wild one in Manitoba on Saturday, Jan. 12, and unfortunately for the Melfort Mustangs, they came out on the losing end in a 5-4 loss to the Flin Flon Bombers in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).

It didn’t take long for the party to get started at the Whitney Forum as Brandson Hein was sitting in the penalty box for the Bombers. Caleb Moretz and Nate Hooper were pressing on the penalty kill, and that lead to Moretz beating Mustang netminder Shawn Parkinson to make it 1-0 Bombers shorthanded just 1:43 into the game.

But, with the Mustangs still on the powerplay, Justin Ball fired a shot towards the net, and the rebound came to Colin Schmidt who notched his second goal in as many games to make it 1-1. The excitement continued to the end of the first as the teams went back and forth, but no more scoring occurred in the frame.

The craziness bled over into the second period as the teams continued to trade attacks. At the 7:22 mark of the period, Parkinson stopped the initial Bomber shot, but the rebound trickled, and sat in the crease. Flin Flon jumped on it like a dog on a bone, and made it 2-1.

Just over the halfway mark of the period, the Mustangs were on the penalty kill, but that didn’t stop Justin Ball from getting a breakaway. He made no mistake, tying things at two goals a piece.

Trades in Sask.

Skilled trades need not limited to building homes

Apr 17, 2024

Power outages

Several communities affected by power outages

Apr 17, 2024

UFA coming to Melfort

UFA to build petroleum site along Highway 41 in Melfort

Apr 17, 2024

Flin Flon responded about four minutes later as Billy Klymchuk forced the turnover in the defensive zone, and went back the other way. He gave the puck to Ryder Richmond, and got it right back and beat Parkinson to make it 3-2 Bombers.

With less than three minutes to go in the frame, the Mustangs were on another penalty kill, and Alex Rondeau got on a breakaway off a pass from Parker Fofonoff. He made no mistake, beating Gabriel Waked to tie things up once again. Things stayed at 3-3 heading into the third period.

Melfort got their first lead of the game just over seven minutes into the period as Nolan Kadachuk fired a wrist shot towards the Bomber net. The seeing eye shot found it’s way past Waked, and gave the Mustangs the 4-3 lead.

Both teams continued to put the pressure on, but an Alex Rondeau interference call almost 12 minutes into the period put the Mustangs in some hot water. Daylan Marchi scored his 16th of the season, just seven seconds into the powerplay and things were all tied up once again.

At the 13:36 mark of the period, Braeden Young was sent to the penalty box for tripping, giving the Bombers another chance with the man advantage. They only took six seconds to score on this powerplay to take the lead back. The Mustangs would put the pedal to the metal late, but they could not beat Waked one more time.

With the 5-4 loss, the Mustangs fall to 25-13-2-0 on the season. Melfort is now off until Friday when they host the Humboldt Broncos. The SJHL/MJHL Showcase now takes place on Monday and Tuesday.

mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6