All good, except for a 2-2 tie in the second period, drawing a disappointed reaction from the crew of bench bosses.
When your goal is to win every period, every game, well, a tie just isn’t good enough.
“We had a couple brainfarts throughout the game, just small things, too,” said Mustangs coach Kyle Dalgarno. “Like ground balls, not picking up the guy behind you, little things that kind of added up in the end. On top of that they had some decent outside shooters that capitalized on small things like that.”
Again, this is a team that won 8-5. And improved to 10-0 to close the SSLL regular season in the process. But taking it easy in a late-season game is a dangerous plan, something that can lead to bad habits that prove costly when the games really matter.
“That’s exactly where we don’t want to be,” Dalgarno said. “We’re coming down to the last leg of the season and you want to be absolutely fine tuned right now. We still came out on top but we still have lots of things to work on here.”
The Mustangs led 3-2 after the first and 5-4 through two before finding themselves tied 5-5 after Regina scored with 7:17 to play. The score stayed tied for just over three minutes before Moose Jaw pulled away with three goals in the span of 18 seconds late in the game.
Atley Calvert scored five goals and added two assists to the lead the offence while Ethan Peters added a goal and two helpers, Jacob Gyman and Kael Nichols each had a goal and an assist. Brennan Blatz also had two assists.
Bryden Kerr was the winning goaltender.
There were few concerns with the Mustangs’ game earlier in the week, as they rolled to a 12-3 win over the Estevan Voltz in a neutral site game in Bienfait.
Brennan Watterson and Brydon Bell each scored three times as Moose Jaw built leads of 5-0 and 8-1 by period. Nichols scored twice, Gyman, Jake Williams, Ethan Johnson and Kayde Shymko all had single goals.
The key now will be to gear up for the playoffs and ideally hit the floor running when the time comes.
“We hope to do well, get a few more wins to end the season and see where we end up,” Dalgarno said.
