Marco Lopez had a three point night, as the Yorkton Terriers fell to Melfort Mustangs 5-1 to extend their quarterfinal series. Colby Vranai got the lone marker for the Terriers, while Kael DePape made 40 saves in the loss.
In what was a tentative first period, the Mustangs opened the scoring on the power-play. A point shot from Mark Snarr was stopped by DePape, only for Clarke Huxley to shovel home the rebound for his 3rd goal of the series. The offence exploded late in a physical second period. Melfort made it 2-0, again on the power-play. A Kevin Minnoch point shot was steered aside by DePape, right to Tye Scherger who chipped home the rebound. 12 seconds later, on a turnover at the Mustang blue-line, Thomas Moore stepped into the Yorkton zone and wired a shot to the top corner to make 3-0 Melfort. The Terriers responded 29 seconds after the Moore marker. Greg Nelson charged down the right wing and threw the puck on goal, where Vranai deflected home his first goal of the playoffs to make it 3-1.
The Mustangs clamped down on the game in the third. Noah Wilson scored his first goal of the playoffs after a Terrier fell down, allowing him a clear lane on DePape. Wilson went short-side on DePape to make it 4-1 Melfort. The Mustangs wrapped up the scoring on the power-play once again. Marco Lopez banged home a rebound after a mad scramble in Yorkton’s crease, en route to a game 5 Melfort victory.
Game 6 will be back at the Westland Insurance Arena on Sunday night. There will be tailgating presented by Legacy Co-Op, GX 94 and FOX FM at 5pm where hot dogs and drinks will be on sale. GX 94 will also broadcast the game with the pregame show starting at 5:50pm and play-by-play kicking off at 6pm.