The Warman Wolverines came within a whisker of adding two more victories to their record in a home-and home series against the Melfort Mustangs last weekend, but instead had to settle for a pair of overtime shootout losses.
The Mustangs edged the Wolverines 6-5 in a shootout in Warman on Friday, October 2, and followed that up with a 3-2 shootout win over the visitors in Melfort on Saturday, October 3.
The Wolverines trailed in both games, but in what is becoming their trademark strategy, staged dramatic third-period rallies to tie the score and force overtime.
Despite the losses, the Wolverines added two valuable points to their team total, allowing them to hang on to top spot in the overall Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) standings. As of Monday, October 5, the Warman crew has a record of 4 wins, 1 loss and 2 shootout losses for 10 points, one up on the second-place Humboldt Broncos, who own a record of 4 wins, 2 losses and 1 overtime loss for 9 points.
The Wolverines also retained their ranking in the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) Top 20 for the week, the only SJHL team to do so. The Wolverines are currently pegged in 14th spot, one place better than last week’s 15th place ranking.
In Friday’s barn-burner, the Mustangs drew first blood when Dru Mushumanski (Luke Dekay, Tristin Ziola) connected in the second minute of the first period to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Tristin Ziola (Xavier Doane) added another goal for the Mustangs at the 11:52 mark.
Ashton Lee (Kanyan Unger, Linden Hoskins) got the Wolverines on the board late in the opening frame to make it 2-1.
In the second period, Bennet Roth (Luke Dekay, Dru Mushamanski) scored for the Mustangs in the second period; and Luke Dekay (Cooper Atkinson) added another early in the third to give the visitors a commanding 4-1 cushion.
But, three straight Wolverines goals by Theron Bensler (Ashton Lee, Trey Markus), Trey Markus (Linden Hoskins, Ethan Dundas) and Nate Crashley (unassisted) tied the game at 4-4 with about three minutes left in regulation.
The visiting Mustangs fans went wild when Tristin Ziola (Dru Mushumanski, Luke Dekay) scored at the 19:38 mark to make it 5-4 for the visitors.
The Wolverines fans went even wilder when Kayden Yeaman (Trey Markus, Carter Bergen) scored for the home team at the 19:47 mark to tie things up at 5-5 and force extra time.
In the shootout, Wolverines’ netminder Luke Brunen stopped the first two Mustangs shooters, but couldn’t handle the game-winning shot by Luke MacKenzie.
Brunen faced 35 shots in regulation, while Mustangs goaltender Nick Kotai saw 34 shots come his way.
Saturday’s game in Melfort saw the Mustangs dominate in the shots-on-goal category, peppering Brunen with 37 shots while allowing the Wolverines just 20 shots on their goalie, Luke McKechnie.
The Mustangs scored first when Matthew Bertolin (Luke Dekay, Dru Mushumanski) bent the twine at the 12;38 mark, but the Wolverines’ Theron Bensler (Trey Markus, Ezekiel Lambert) knotted the score at 1-1 thirty seconds later. Still, the Mustangs held a 2-1 lead at the end of 20 minutes thanks to a late-period goal by Luke MacKenzie (Lincoln Rogers, Rhett Vedress). The third period’s lone goal was from the Wolverines’ Ryan Black (Nate Crashley, Oliver Nottingham), which tied the score at 2-2.
For the second straight game, three-on-three overtime saw no scoring, forcing a shootout. The Mustangs Tristin Ziola got the winner.
The Wolverines take on the 1-3-0-0 LaRonge Ice Wolves on Wednesday, October 7 in Warman (game time is 7 p.m.), and travel to Kindersley on Friday, October 9 to play the 3-2-0-0 Klippers.