John MacNeil
Daily Herald
The La Ronge Ice Wolves and Melfort Mustangs each went 1-1 on the opening weekend of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League regular season, while the Nipawin Hawks got off to an 0-2 start.
La Ronge topped Melfort 5-2 on Saturday, one night after the Mustangs clipped Nipawin 6-3 in Melfort and the Ice Wolves dropped their home-opener 6-2 against the reigning-champion Flin Flon Bombers (1-0).
Nipawin’s second loss also came on the road — a 4-1 setback versus the Battlefords North Stars (1-1) on Saturday.
ICE WOLVES 5 MUSTANGS 2: Riley Zezel’s 29-save performance guided La Ronge to victory. Knox Bendera’s goal in the final minute of the second period put the Ice Wolves up 3-2 and ahead to stay.
Everett Merchant added a goal and two assists, while Bendera and Easton Kozak each contributed one goal and one assist. Brendan Jones, on the power play, and Grayson Meyers also tallied for La Ronge.
Both of Melfort’s goals, including a power-play marker, came from Thunder Bay, Ont., recruit Matthew Bertolin, on assists from Dru Mushumanski.
Mustangs goaltender Nick Kotai made 23 stops on 28 shots.
It was the 100th SJHL game for La Ronge’s 20-year-old Grayden Perozni, all with the Ice Wolves.
NORTH STARS 4 HAWKS 1: Battlefords scored three unanswered goals in the third period, including an empty-netter from Brody Guiltner in the final minute.
Linken Fisher, with two points, Kobe Sawyer and Drew Williamson also scored for the North Stars, while Finlay Klippenstein picked up two assists. Raydr Wallington netted the lone goal for Nipawin, his hometown team.
Nathan Claydon blocked 27 shots in the Stars’ net, while the Hawks’ Madex Kabrud recorded 23 stops.
MUSTANGS 6 HAWKS 3: On opening night at the Northern Lights Palace in Melfort, Mushumanski powered the Mustangs with two first-period goals — including a power-play tally — and an assist. In his Melfort debut, Luke Dekay provided a power-play goal and two assists.
The Mustangs’ other scorers were Bertolin, with two points, Eric Grandberg and Luke MacKenzie, with a short-handed tally. It was the first junior A goal for rookie defenceman Grandberg, a former captain of the U18 AAA Saskatoon Blazers.
Melfort veteran forward Tristin Ziola assisted on two goals.
Mason Karakochuk, the Saskatoon forward back for his fourth and final season with Nipawin, collected a goal and an assist. Austin Mori-Goodman and Porter Nickason potted power-play goals and Jack Janzen had two assists.
Luke McKechnie, a former Alberta Junior Hockey League goaltender acquired in an August trade, stopped 24 shots to win his first regular-season game with Melfort. Kabrud made 20 saves for Nipawin.
BOMBERS 6 ICE WOLVES 2: Leo Seitz and Jack Martin each scored power-play goals as part of their two-point games for Flin Flon, which came back from a 2-1 deficit with three second-period goals and two more in the third. Rhett Ewen, with a short-handed tally, Eli Heroux, Hudson Brehaut and Nathan Lalumiere also connected for the Bombers.
Edmonton forwards William Knox, with two points, and Perozni each netted power-play goals for La Ronge. Merchant assisted on both markers.
Finn Werner stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced in Flin Flon’s net. Keagin Kelln registered 32 stops in his first La Ronge start.
AROUND THE LEAGUE: In other SJHL games on Saturday, the Warman Wolverines topped the Humboldt Broncos 5-2, the Weyburn Red Wings downed the Melville Millionaires 4-1 and the Yorkton Terriers punched the Estevan Bruins 6-2. Elsewhere on Friday, Humboldt edged Warman 4-3, Melville doubled Weyburn 4-2 and the Kindersley Klippers sidelined Battlefords 3-1.
UP NEXT: It’s another active weekend ahead for the three SJHL teams based in the wide Rural Roots coverage area. La Ronge visits Flin Flon on Friday. Melfort hosts Melville (1-1) on Friday, before the same teams meet in Melville on Saturday. Nipawin’s home-opener is Friday against Warman (1-1).
Next Wednesday (Sept. 30), Nipawin travels to La Ronge.
