The Melfort Mustangs and Nipawin Hawks opened their season series in the most thrilling way possible on Remembrance Day.
Braxton Buckberger’s goal 24 seconds into overtime gave Nipawin a 4-3 overtime win in the first meeting of the season between the two teams.
The Hawks led 1-0 after the first period and the Mustangs led 3-1 after the second period.
Zac Somers, Brayden Westerlund and Mathieu Pigeon scored for Melfort in regulation. Evan Forrest had a pair of goals in the third period for Nipawin and Buckberger added the other Hawks regulation time goal.
James Venne made 21 saves for the Mustangs; Damon Cunningham made 28 saves for the Hawks.
Despite the Hawks win, the Mustangs continue to draw closer to first place in the Sherwood Division.
As of Nov. 13, the Mustangs are in second place with a record of 11-5-2-0 and 24 points, five points back of the first place Flin Flon Bombers. The Hawks are in third place with a record of 9-10-0-1 with 19 points and the La Ronge Ice Wolves are in fourth place with a record of 5-12-1-1 with 12 points.
The Mustangs opened their week of Sherwood Division games with a 5-3 win over the Ice Wolves in Melfort on Friday, Nov. 9. Melfort led 2-1 after the first period and the game was tied 3-3 after the second period.
Somers had a pair of goals for the Mustangs; Wyatt Day, Hayden Prosofsky and David Coyle added the other Melfort goals. Parker Layton, Raine Hodge and Jacob Cossette responded for the Ice Wolves.
Venne made 28 saves for the Mustangs; Topher Chirico made 35 saves for the Ice Wolves.
The Notre Dame Hounds were in Melfort to play the Mustangs on Tuesday, Nov. 14, results were not available. The Mustangs were in Yorkton to play the Terriers on Wednesday, Nov. 15, results were not available.
The Ice Wolves were in Humboldt to play the Broncos on Tuesday, Nov. 14, results were not available. The Kindersley Klippers were in La Ronge to play the Ice Wolves on Wednesday, Nov. 15, results were not available.
The Hawks began their weekend with a 5-2 loss to the Yorkton Terriers in Nipawin on Friday, Nov. 9.
The Terriers led 1-0 after the first period and 3-1 after the second period.
Ronan Buckberger and Landon Pappas scored for the Hawks. Brett Butz, Clay Sleeva, Jaron Desnoyers, Aiden Knutson and Dalton Meyer responded for Yorkton.
Cunningham made 24 saves for Nipawin; Ethan Farrow made 28 saves for Yorkton.
The Hawks opened their week with a 4-2 win over former coach Doug Johnson and the Melville Millionaires in Nipawin on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
The Hawks led 2-1 after the first period and 3-1 after the second period.
Artem Hrabovetskyi had a pair of goals for the Hawks; Cole Fox and Forrest added the other Nipawin goals. Zach Bansley and Luc Bydal responded for the Millionaires.
Cunningham made 32 saves for Nipawin; Ethan Rau made 34 saves for Melville.
The Notre Dame Hounds were in Nipawin to play the Hawks on Wednesday, Nov. 15, results were not available. The Yorkton Terriers were in Nipawin to play the Hawks on Thursday, Nov. 16, results were not available.
The Hawks and Mustangs meet for the second time this season Friday, Nov. 17 in Melfort.
The Battlefords North Stars are in La Ronge to play the Ice Wolves on Friday, Nov. 17 and Saturday, Nov. 18.
The Terriers are in Melfort to play the Mustangs on Saturday, Nov. 17.
