(Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW)

By Ben Tompkins

First Win

Mustangs win night of firsts in La Ronge

Sep 23, 2025 | 11:56 PM

The Melfort Mustangs picked up their first win of the season on Tuesday, downing the La Ronge Ice Wolves by a score of 3-1.

After a rough first period, which saw Melfort fall behind 1-0 and lose their starting netminder to injury, the Mustangs battled in periods two and three, with significant help from a handful of their newcomers.

“When Mads (Madden Mulawka) went down there, our emotions were high, but I think our group did a really good job of putting that behind them and just taking what was in front of them. We kind of reset going into the second, and just got back to what makes us good. Finishing off pucks, going with speed, and finishing every hit, that’s when the results started to come for us,” explained Stangs’ assistant coach, Clarke Huxley.

“On an individual perspective, for a handful of our guys to get some significant firsts, it’s awesome, and they’re great accomplishments. We lost some guys throughout the game, but we had others step up in situations they weren’t really expected to be in when the night started, so it’s a testament to them. They worked hard to be here, and they were ready when that moment came and really just seized the opportunity.”

With Mulawka going down late in the first period, Kason Kobelka had to take the reins in net. He ended up stopping all 14 shots he faced for his first career SJHL win.

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Other firsts on the night included Blake Girard’s first career SJHL goal, as well as Jake DeMone’s and Coltan White’s first career SJHL points.

Rhett Vedress also had his first goal in a Blue and Green uniform, which ended up being the game-winner.

Other key factors in the Mustangs’ victory were a much-improved penalty kill, which went 5-for-5 on the evening.

“I think we were just a lot sharper. With our 1-for-4 result on Friday night, we worked on the kill a lot in practice this week, and it was just kind of making sure there was no hesitation, and no one out there not knowing what they were supposed to do. We were all on the same page, we were getting into our lanes, and we were making sure that we worked as a four-man unit to get the job done,” Huxley added.

“On Friday night, I think we kind of got away from that, and we had a little bit of sloppiness going around out there, but tonight, I thought we all worked well together, everyone got their own individual jobs done, and it showed.”

Melfort is now 1 and 1 on the season as they return to a winning record of .500+, somewhere the organization always aspires to be.

“Obviously, tonight’s win is a small sample size, but .500 is kind of the benchmark where you always want to be above. We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, though, and even really look down the road or at the record. As long as the process is there for us, and we’re happy with the effort and what our guys are doing, then the results will come,” concluded Huxley.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

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