The Melfort Mustangs started quickly, never letting their foot off the gas and eventually eliminating the Greater Sudbury Cubs 7-1 in quarter-final action at the 2025 Centennial Cup on Friday in Calgary.
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League champs would go on to trim the Trenton Golden Hawks 4-3 in semi-final play before succumbing in the national final, 7-2, to the host Calgary Canucks.
In their first playoff encounter, Melfort blitzed the Cubs 24-7 in the shot department in the opening frame but led only 1-0 on a goal from Kaleb Binner (6:41) until the final minute of play, thanks to the work of Sudbury netminder Noah Beaulne.
But the relentless Mustangs attack would pay off eventually, at 19:23 to be precise as Cole Unger doubled the advantage for the prairie crew.
The one and only glimmer of hope for the back to back NOJHL champs came early in the middle stanza when Noah Kohan converted on the power play, with Alex Valade and Daks Klinkhammer drawing the assists.
The beginning of the end for Sudbury came just under five minutes later when Melfort returned the favour with the man advantage as Ashton Hutchinson restored the two goal lead.
By the time the Mustangs registered their second tally in the final sixty seconds in as many periods courtesy of Zac Somers, this encounter was all but done as Reilley Kotai, Bryson Aikens and Ashton Paul piled on with third period tallies.
The Mustangs outshot the Cubs 40-32 as Sudbury qualified for the playoffs thanks to a third place finish in Pool A (five teams in all), winning a pair of games in regulation time and losing a pair of games in regulation time as well.
On an individual basis, NOJHL final call-up Lincoln Moore was named as the Most Sportsmanlike Player at the 2025 Centennial Cup, potting five goals and a pair of assists in his four round robin games.
Earlier in the week, NOJHL commissioner Rob Mazzuca was re-elected as the chair of the board of the CJHL (Canadian Junior Hockey League), joining both Ryan Bartoshyk (AJHL) and Kevin Figsby (QJAAHL) as incumbents returning to their posts for a two year term.
