It was an upset that few saw coming. The Melfort Mustangs, who finished 15 points behind the Battlefords North Stars in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's regular season, went into the survivor series with nothing to lose and made the most of their opportunities.
"It just wasn't meant to be this season," said head coach and general manager Kevin Hasselberg following the game. "It was a real tough go from day one to this point and there is a lot of work that went into it. It is an empty feeling right now."
The North Stars season came to an end on home ice Monday, as 784 fans watched the final junior hockey games of Connor Creech, Brody Luhning, Braeden Johnson, Kyle Hall and Evan Ripley.
The North Stars started the scoring with rookie Josh Betinol getting a weak backhand by Jesse Wilkins. Godric Tham evened the score before the end of the period.
In the second frame, another North Stars rookie, Austin Evans, showed great determination, driving wide on the Mustangs' defence and going hard to the net. He chipped the puck by Wilkins making it 2-1. Blake Young continued his three-game point-streak in the playoffs with an assist.
Later, Logan Sceviour deflected a shot on the power play to tie the game once again for the Mustangs.
Still in the second period, after Brandon Long was hit hard in the offensive zone, Jake McMillen jumped in to stick up for his teammate and dropped the gloves with Sheldon Argent. It wasn't like the Ben Greenaway-Bryden Serafini fight from game two of this series that went viral and is posted all over the Internet, but it was a good fight.
The second period ended 2-2 and the North Stars were down to possibly their final period of the season.
In the third, Tham went hard to the net and deflected a pass by Creech, which gave the Mustangs their first lead of the game.
The North Stars didn't panic, as Josh Betinol found some open space on a power play and one-timed a shot for his second goal of the game making it 3-3. Kyle Schmidt assisted on the North Stars' first power play goal in 11 chances in the series.
With three minutes remaining, Melfort's Cole Hyrsky carried the puck into the North Stars' zone and was crushed in the corner by North Stars defenceman Kendall Fransoo. As he was hit, Hyrsky fired the puck towards the net and Brandon Formosa deflected in his first goal of the season.
The North Stars put shots towards the Mustangs' net in the final minutes, but to no avail, as they lost 4-3.
"I know our fans and the organization - there is a lot of disappointment right now," said Hasselberg. "Our fans who have been there from day one, we salute you. We salute our billets and the efforts our billets put in to make sure these young men have had accommodating experiences and great homes to live in."
Along with thanking the local supporters of the North Stars, Hasselberg mentioned his next task was to help the graduating players pursue other hockey options if that is what they choose to do.
Luhning, Hall and Johnson all played three seasons with the North Stars while Creech played two and Ripley joined the North Stars this season.
"From an organization's stand point this is one world-class organization that is committed to the development of hockey players and the development of the staff," said Hasselberg. "Obviously there is a lot of pride in this community that this organization represents. We are extremely excited about what we have moving forward with this program."
The Mustangs will be moving forward into the playoffs and face the Humboldt Broncos. The Mustangs put 28 shots at Creech. Creech played well for the North Stars in game three including a second period penalty kill when he was tested five or six times and kept the game tied at that point. The North Stars had 37 shots in the game. Melfort was 4/14 with the power play in the series, they worked hard and were opportunistic when they had chances.
