With the season drawing to a close, the Melfort Mustangs clinched a playoff spot and saw their winning streak come to an end last week against their arch rival the Nipawin Hawks.
The Hawks ended the Mustangs winning streak at 12 straight games with a 3-1 win over Melfort in Melfort on Friday, March 6.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first and second periods.
Eric Hoiness, Carter Cole and Braeden Jockims scored for the Hawks.
Ethan Hamilton responded for the Mustangs.
Gage Roberts made 29 saves for Nipawin; Kason Kobelka made 26 saves for the Mustangs.
As of March 9, the Hawks are in second place in the UPL Division with a record of 34-18-1-1 with 70 points, 11 points behind the league and division leading Flin Flon Bombers. The Mustangs are in third place with a record of 29-21-2-2 with 62 points and the La Ronge Ice Wolves are in fourth place with a record of 10-39-4-1 with 25 points.
The Hawks currently sit in fourth place in the league if the playoffs were to begin this week, meanwhile the Mustangs are in sixth place.
The Hawks ended their week with a 5-0 win over the Warman Wolverines on Sunday, March 8 in Nipawin.
Roberts stopped all 24 shots he faced to record the shutout for Nipawin.
The Hawks led 2-0 after the first period and 5-0 after the second period.
Will Whitter, Mason Karokachuk, Jack Janzen, Cole and Jockims scored for the Hawks.
Griffin Wright made 39 saves for the Wolverines.
The Hawks were in Flin Flon to face the Bombers on Tuesday, March 10, results were not available for press time.
The Mustangs ended their week on a winning not defeating the Yorkton Terriers 4-3 in Melfort on Sunday, March 8.
Melfort led 2-1 after the first period and 4-2 after the second period.
Danton Cox had a pair of goals for the Mustangs; Tristin Ziola and Lincoln Rogers added the other Melfort goals.
Gabriel Courchesne had a pair of goals for the Terriers with Tyler Palin adding the other Yorkton goal.
Madden Mulawka made 37 saves for the Mustangs. Alexandro Montoya made nine saves in just over 28 minutes for Yorkton before he was replaced by Callum Creig who made seven saves.
The Mustangs extended their winning streak to 12 straight and clinched a playoff spot with a 3-1 win over the Ice Wolves in La Ronge on Tuesday, March 3. The game was also a rescheduled game from one that was cancelled in Dec. 2025.
The game was scoreless after the first period and the Mustangs led 2-0 after the second period.
Luke Mackenzie, Austin Shepherd and Kaleb Binner scored for the Mustangs.
Quinn Tavender responded for the Ice Wolves.
Mulawka made 27 saves for Melfort; Graham Brown made 29 saves for La Ronge.
The Estevan Bruins were in Melfort to face the Mustangs on Wednesday, March 11, results were not available for press time.
The Ice Wolves closed their two-game home set with the Humboldt Broncos with a 7-5 loss in Air Ronge on Friday, March 6.
The game was tied 2-2 after the first period and Humboldt led 5-3 after the second period.
Grayden Perozni had a pair of goals for the Ice Wolves with Connor Hoemsen, Boston Melnyk and Waylon Gardipy adding the other La Ronge goals.
Gabriel Kaminski had a pair of goals for the Broncos; other Humboldt goals came from Logan Flint, Tyce Penrod, Carson Croteau and Oliver Phillips.
Riley Zezel made 19 saves in just over 41 minutes for La Ronge before he was replaced by Brown who made five saves.
The Ice Wolves opened their two-game home set with Humboldt with a 2-1 overtime win over the visiting Broncos on Thursday, March 5. The win allowed the Ice Wolves to hit double digits in wins for the regular season.
Everett Merchant scored the winner for La Ronge 3:13 into the extra period.
The Ice Wolves led 1-0 after the first period and the game was tied 1-1 after the second period.
Ryder McKinnon scored for La Ronge in regulation time.
Tiegan Semchychen responded for Humboldt in regulation time.
Brown made 45 saves for La Ronge; Brady Holtvogt made 33 saves for Humboldt.
The Mustangs and Hawks close out the regular season on Friday, March 13 in Nipawin.
The Ice Wolves close out their regular season with a home-and-home against the Bombers. The teams meet in Flin Flon on Friday, March 13 and in Air Ronge on Saturday, March 14.
