Coming into the year fresh off back-to-back Canterra Seeds Cup championships and two national silver medals, the standards at the Northern Lights Palace truly could not be higher.
As is usually the case with the Mustangs, like most dominant, championship teams, their rate of retaining players from year to year is once again high. However, it will be up to the majority of the crop of 14-or-so returners to prove they are the top-line guys that they replace from 2024-25.
Up front, the best candidates are 20 year olds Ashton Hutchinson, who had a terrific season a year ago, and whose family is Mustang royalty (big brother Aidyn was a superstar with the club in 2023-24), and Zayden Sadlemyer, who is the only one back of the three Melfort players from a year ago’s spread-out offence that scored over 20 goals. They will be supported by the likes of Danton Cox and Will Munro, both of whom took off and improved drastically once they put the Melfort jersey on. Energy forwards like Austin Shepherd, Kaleb Binner, and Nolan Patterson were key reasons the Mustangs dominated in the hits category last season. With all the leadership and experience in the world, there is no reason they can’t take significant steps forward offensively as well.
On the back end, Cole Unger and Bo Eisner have been essential pieces for head coach Trevor Blevins for two seasons already, and both have two trips to the Centennial Cup under their belt. They will likely be looked to for bigger roles than they ever have before this time around.
There is a lot to like in the way this squad is constructed, though the only question is whether they possess the real high-end skill the last two Melfort teams had.
With Madden Mulawka and Josh Henry in net, and a deep, veteran crew that knows Blevins’ system well, keeping pucks out should not be a problem at all.
Let’s take a look at some key numbers from the last regular season for the Mustangs:
SJHL Co-Director of Media Clark Munroe sat down with Head Coach/GM Trevor Blevins in the SCSA Coaches’ Show ahead of the 25/26 season and got his thoughts on the upcoming year.
