By Jeff D'Andrea

Minto-loaded Mustangs heading to Fort Mac

Apr 25, 2015 | 8:08 AM

The SJHL champion Melfort Mustangs will be taking a lot of Prince Albert products as they head into the Western Canada Cup April 25-May 3 in Fort McMurray, Alta.

Adam Fauchoux, Luc Lemire, Eric Young and Braxx George are all from Prince Albert and all played their midget AAA hockey with their hometown Mintos. Other Mintos alumni on the Mustangs roster are Justin Boyer, Regan Wilton, Bryton Serafini, Dakota Boutin and Teal Sobkowicz.

“It’s awesome, it makes you feel right at home,” said Lemire, 20-year-old defenceman for the Mustangs. “The Mintos are a great organization, they bring in a lot of players. Melfort definitely realized that and did good recruiting.

“It’s good to have the guys here, a lot of them have played together before. We kinda had that chemistry coming in and went from there.”

The locals are also key cogs to the Mustangs’ machine. Fauchoux scored 14 playoff goals and 23 points in 14 playoff games, and shared the SJHL Playoff MVP awards with goaltender Richard Palmer.

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Lemire himself is the top-offensive option the Mustangs’ blueline, as he led the defence-core in points in the postseason (10 points in 14 games) and the regular season (27 points in 51 games).  

“I think our power play has a big thing to do with it,” said Lemire, who’s often paired with Fauchoux on the point with the man-advantage. “We’ve been playing with the same units all year. It gave us a lot of time to practice and we’re just clicking with it right now.

“Everyone’s playing with a lot of confidence and that makes a big difference, we’re playing well as a team.”

Fauchoux was downright dominant in the playoffs, especially late as he scored five goals in a four-game sweep over the Notre Dame Hounds to win the SJHL Canalta Cup and advance to the finals.

“He’s great to play with. He’s always in the right spots, you just have to get him the puck and he definitely knows how to finish,” said Lemire, who also played two years on the Mintos with Fauchoux from 2010-2012. “Guys like that, you want to get the puck to and they’ll take care of the rest, for sure.”

The Mustangs will enter the Western Canada Cup without a regulation loss in the playoffs, going 12-0-0-2. They were also the top-ranked squad in the SJHL in the regular season with a 39-8-3-6 record and surrendered 19 goals less than anybody else and gave up the least shots against in the league.

Lemire is part of that defence core, which Blevins credits a lot for the team’s success.

“Not only do we defend well, we least amount of shots against in league play, we really just did a great job defensively throughout the playoffs,” said Blevins. “They contribute in the offensive zone, too. You need that balance I think to be successful and all the seven guys that got in the lineup did a great job.”

Although the Mustangs are unfamiliar with their Western Canada Cup opponents, they’ll have the advantage of watching all of them on Saturday before their first game on Sunday against the Portage Terriers at 2:30 p.m. Blevins said they have also acquired game tape on their opponents and have a good grip already on their tactics.

“Our coaches have done a really good job of breaking down all their systems, they’re preparing us in anyway possible,” said Lemire. “We’ve been focusing a lot on Portage lately, going over some of their systems and how to defend against them and play against them.

“The coaches have done their homework and we just have to take it from there.”

After Sunday’s contest, the Mustangs will take on the Spruce Grove Saints at 7:30 p.m on Monday, then play the lone Wednesday game of the tournament against the Penticton Vees, who feature former Prince Albert Raider forward Dakota Conroy.

The Mustangs then end their round robin, playing the hosting Fort McMurray Oil Barons on Thursday before the playoffs Saturday and Sunday. The top two teams will qualify for the RBC Cup National Junior A Championship May 9-17 in Portage La Prairie, Man.

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea