For the first time in 31 years, the Melfort Mustangs and Weyburn Red Wings will meet in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League final.
Melfort, the reigning champions, advanced to the final with a The Mustangs then games in round two.
Thanks to that series sweep of Yorkton, Melfort has enjoyed more than a week off, and has kept his team on the ice, looking to maintain their compete level through the break.
“We’ve played a bit of three-on-three and held skill days. But when we get after it, we're going to keep practices short and hard and play a lot of live situations so we're game ready.”
Melfort is looking to repeat as league champions and become the first team to win back-to-back titles since they did it in 2015 and 2016.
Blevins believes that the keys to being ready for the opening game of the final series with Weyburn are their mental preparation and physical approach during their time off.
“We're going to play a lot of live game-like situations in practice and make sure it's high pace, high intensity and battling and competing against each other.”
Weyburn hasn’t played in the league final since 2012, when they lost to Humboldt. In round one, . In the second round,
The last time Weyburn won the SJHL title was in 2001 when they defeated the Nipawin Hawks.
In four meetings this season, Melfort won three of four games.
In addition to winning the SJHL championship last season, the Mustangs were a goal away from hoisting the Centennial Cup in the national final. Blevins admits that getting back to that game has been a motivation all year, but they aren’t looking past Weyburn.
“We had a couple of slaps in the face this season that we learned from. I think that's important to go through, learning to hit the reset button and get back after it and play the way you can.”
In four regular-season meetings, Melfort has beaten Weyburn three times.
Games one and two of the series are in Melfort, April 19 and 20, before the set shifts back to Weyburn for games three and four on Wednesday and Thursday, April 23 and 24.
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