A hat-trick from Rhett Palmer wasn’t able to help lift the Arcola/Kisbey Combines to their first win of the season Monday night, as they fell 5-3 to the Midale Mustangs. The loss is the seventh on the year for Arcola, which is currently in last place in the Big Six standings.

The Mustangs were the first on the board scoring the first goal of the game just 14 seconds in. Steven Lindenbach scored the goal with assists from Taylor Vandesype and Braden Kmita.

The lead increased to 2-0 when Brayden Ganson scored a power-play goal with 10:53 left on the clock in the first period. The assists on the goal were credited to Garrett Sherlock and Logan Martinson.

Just 90 seconds later, Midale made it a 3-0 game when Matt Geske would get the puck past Keegan Mitchell. The goal was assisted by Adam Zeigler and Lindenbach, who ended up finishing the night with four points.

The Combines responded in the second period, with Palmer scoring his first goal of the night 31 seconds in. His goal on Derek Tendler was assisted by Walker Hengen.

At the ten minute mark of the second period, Palmer scored his second of the game. The unassisted tally closed the gap to 3-2.

In the third period, the Mustangs began to pull away again. It started with a power play goal from Sherlock with 9:32 left on the clock in regulation. Vandesype and Lindenbach were credited with the assists on the goal.

Lindenbach would then score his second of the night at the 13:27 mark of the period, putting the game essentially out of reach for the Combines. The goal was assisted by Brad Tomiski and Daniel Fellner.

Palmer would score the final goal of the game to finish off his hat trick with 3:58 left on the clock. He was assisted by Julian Boutin and Greg Zahner.

With the win, the Mustangs improved to 4-5 on the season and are tied with Redvers and Wawota in the middle of the standings. The Combines are at the bottom of the table, winless in their first eight games of the season.

For the Mustangs, they will be back in action Friday when they entertain the Oxbow Huskies in Midale. The Combines will be back in action Tuesday night as the Wawota Flyers make the trip to Arcola.