Eleven points stood between them in the regular season. Now four wins separate both the Flin Flon Bombers and Melfort Mustangs from the Canalta Cup.
The defending champion Mustangs have earned a second straight berth in the SJHL final. They now face the Bombers beginning tonight, Friday.
“We feel confident with the way we are playing,” said Flin Flon head coach Mike Reagan. “Melfort is the defending champs and we are excited about the challenge of knocking them off.”
The Mustangs advanced to the final Wednesday night with a 5-4 victory over Nipawin in game 7 of their semifinal series.
The Mustangs host the Bombers tonight for Game 1 of the Canalta Cup Final. Game 2 is Saturday in Melfort.
The series shifts to Flin Flon with games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Whitney Forum.
If necessary, game 5 will be Friday, April 22 in Melfort, with games 6 and 7 on Sunday, April 24 in Flin Flon and Tuesday, April 26 in Melfort.
The Bombers were 3-2-0-1 against the Mustangs in six regular season meetings. Speaking earlier this week of both Melfort and Nipawin, Reagan said: “We have played them a lot. We are pretty familiar with them. We know what to expect.”
The Mustangs finished second overall in the regular season with 83 points (39-14-3-2). That was 11 points ahead of the Bombers with 72 points (34-20-0-4).
On paper the two clubs appear evenly matched.
