Mustangs Steal Game One.

Brant Harris scored twice, and Mustang's goaltender Chris Ward was outstanding. Consequently, the Melfort Mustangs have a 1-0 series lead on the Battlefords North Stars in the SJHL's Bauer Conference Semi-Final.

Saturday night at the Civic Center, 1134 fans were treated to a back-and-forth hockey game which featured big hits, and even bigger saves.

Chris Ward set the tone early when he denied Blake Peake on a breakway in the first two minutes.

The first period was filled with penalties, but the Stars were able to persevere. The game's first goal came off the stick of Josh Daley(1) on a power-play. Jesse Lebreton let a shot go from the point which bounced off the back-boards and right onto the stick of Daley who stuffed it by Ward to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.

At 8:56 of the second period, the Mustangs tied the score with a power-play goal of their own. Blake Hietela shruggled off some checks in front of the net, and pounced on a loose puck and roofed it over Kyle Birch. Hietela's goal was unassisted.

The Stars bounced back at 12:39. Ward Szucki(1) forced a turnover at the Mustang's blueline, and after he grabbed control of the bouncing puck, he took two strides and buried a wrist-shot to give the Stars a 2-1 lead.

54 seconds later the Mustangs tied the game thanks to a nifty deflection courtesy of Brant Harris. Mitch Berg fired a low shot from the left point which bounced off the stick of Harris and into the back of the net.

The teams continued to trade chances, and both Chris Ward and Kyle Birch made some fine saves.

The game's final goal game 6:10 into the third period, when Brant Harris forced a turnover at the Star's blueline, made a quick move to the middle, and then fired a wrister by Birch.

Moments later the Stars came close to tying it on a number of different occasions. The closest moment came off a rebound in front. Dane Muench had the puck in the slot, and Ward was down and out. Muench fired the puck, and a diving Josh Martin was the only reason why the puck stayed out.

The Stars were given a power-play with 2:07 to go, but were unable to get anything going. However they had one last chance to score with two seconds left. After a battle in the corner, the puck was thrown out in front to a wide-open Josh Daley. Daley wasted no time in wiring a one-timer, and Chris Ward capped off his great night with another sensational save.

Ward made 29 saves, while his counterpart Kyle Birch made 24. Both teams finished 1-7 on the power-play.

"I thought me played well enough to win the game tonight," said North Star's coach and GM Ken Pearson after the game. "All we needed to do was bare down a little more."

With the victory, the Melfort Mustangs become the fourth and final road team to win Game One of their Semi-Final series and for the moment they have taken over home-ice advantage in this best-of-seven series.

Game two goes Monday night at 7:30 from Melfort. You can catch the game live on CJNB/CJNS starting at 7:15.

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All in all I thought Game One of this series was very entertaining. Beforehand we expected a close game, with lots of hits and saves, and the fanbase was definitely not dissapointed in that regard.

The Stars did a fantastic job at limiting the time and space of Todd Chinova, and definitely did put themselves into a position to win the game.

The determining factor in the game?

Chris Ward. He made one or two saves that few goaltenders out there could have stopped, and earned the victory in the process.

I was impressed by the Star's resolve for most of the game, and even though they lost Game One, the attitudes were still positive after the game. Shay Neufeld told me afterwards that, "It's a marathon, and not a sprint." I find that quote to be very appropriate.

Let me remind everybody that the majority of voters on our recent blog poll said that this series would go six or seven games, and I don't think that any opinions should change due to a one-goal game in Game One of the series.