Over the weekend, the Melfort Mustangs managed to do what no other team in the SJHL has been able to do since the end of November - beat the Humboldt Broncos.
It didn't look like the Broncos were about to break their double-digit win-streak anytime soon when they faced the Mustangs in the first game of a home-and-home with Melfort on January 20 at the Elgar Petersen Arena.
The Broncos took a strong lead in the first period, and never looked back, racking up their 17th win in a row with a score of 7-2.
Joey Davies scored the first goal of the game for the Broncos at 3:05 of the first period, assisted by Adam Zbitniff and Mathew Backhouse.
Matt Glowa took advantage of a power play to sink the puck past Melfort netminder Jesse Wilkins at 8:20 of the first. Assisting on the point were Robbie Ciolfi and Taylor Johnson.
Glowa then scored an even-strength point at 18:04, assisted by Johnson and Josh Roach.
At the end of the first, the Broncos were up 3-0.
In the second, Humboldt added three more points to their total. Ciolfie got a point of his own, assisted by Johnson and Glowa, on a power play at 9:36.
Then John Lawrence scored off a pass from Kameron Ballas and Andrew Johnston at 11:14.
Finally, Andrew Herle got a short-handed goal at 16:11. Ryan Marshall and Logan Sproule got the assists.
In the third, the Mustangs managed to get the puck past Bronco goalie Matt Hrynkiw twice - once at 1:50, and again on a power play at 18:32.
But the Broncos also added a point at 16:39 of the third - Zbitniff off Backhouse and Neil Landry), to get a final score of 7-2.
Penalties were minimal for a contest between these teams - eight for Melfort and nine to Humboldt.
But two fights did break out - one between Clinton Pirio of the Mustangs, the player who earned five of Melfort's eight penalties, and Jonathan Parisien of the Broncos at 12:46 of the second; and another between Parisien and Pirio again at 14:33 of the third period.
The Broncos outshot the Mustangs 40 to 20, and went two for six on the power play, while the 'Stangs were one for seven.
The three stars of the game were all Broncos - Glowa, Johnson and Zbitniff.
Things changed for the Broncos the next night in Melfort.
There was no scoring throughout the first, second, third or first overtime period. Bronco goalie Colin Dzijacky stopped all 24 shots on goal by Melfort over those periods of play, and Melfort goalie Jesse Wilkins stopped all 46 of the Broncos'.
Frustration was evident from both teams, as they each racked up eight penalties, including those earned by Bronco Rhett Blackmur and Mustang Brendan Tash when they dropped gloves midway through the second period.
The game finally went into a shootout.
Humboldt's first shooter, John Lawrence, scored, but the subsequent four shooters - Andrew Johnston, Ryan Marshall, Matt Glowa and Emrik Guillemette - did not.
Meanwhile, Melfort's second shooter, Anthony Pickering, got a goal, as did their fifth shooter, Pearce Gourley.
That added up to a 1-0 Melfort victory over the Broncos, and ended Humboldt's win-streak at 17 games.
Both teams were zero for seven on the power play.
Stars of the game were both goalies, and Gourley.
Despite the loss, the Broncos are still ranked third in the Canadian Junior A Hockey League standings, up from sixth place last week.
