The Melfort Mustangs are struggling to find the right results as they dropped their tenth Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League game in the last 11, losing 3-2 to the Notre Dame Hounds.
“We did have a pretty hard effort and it was just a matter of a bad bounce on the winning goal,” said Trevor Blevins, the Mustangs’ head coach, about the Feb. 22 game in Wilcox. ”I thought we had enough to the net… we just can’t find the back of the net right now.”
The defensive side of the puck has been a work in progress for the Mustangs but they have put together a number of solid efforts in a row, as this game marked the fourth consecutive match where they gave up three or fewer goals.
“We’re definitely seeing improvements,” said Blevins. “It’s just a matter of getting it all together but we’re getting close and we’re seeing improvements every day.”
Miles Warkentine and Reed Gunville each scored their 17th goals of the season, with Warkentine scoring in the first period and Gunville on the power play in the second.
The Mustangs found themselves behind after each of the three periods, starting with the first, where they trailed 2-1 thanks to a Hounds goal with four seconds to play.
Late period goals can be a real momentum crusher for a lot of teams, but Blevins noted his team was able to recover well from the late goal.
“Really it was kind of a back and forth type of game. One team took control for a couple of minutes then the other team would.”
The Mustangs’ power play finished the game 1/6 and despite the poor success rate, Blevins was pleased with the effort they put forth.
“It’s about how you execute too. You can’t control a hot goaltender or you can’t control a bounce here and there.”
Also this week: Mustangs make strong effort, but defeated by Flin Flon
