For the second year in a row the Battlefords North Stars did battle with the Estevan Bruins in their first playoff series.
And for the second year in a row, they lost game one to the Bruins at home.
The North Stars also rebounded to win game two. If they can do what they did last year and sweep both playoff games in Estevan's building, they will be into the league quarter-finals, but they need to take care of business on the road for that to happen.
"It's been a roller coaster for our hockey team," said coach Kevin Hasselberg after game two.
"Obviously it's about winning hockey games at his stage of the year. It doesn't matter how you do it, you've got to find a way to do it."
The North Stars entered the playoffs with some much-needed players back from injury for game one, as Reed Delainey and Matt Saharchuk were in the lineup after a lengthy time on the mend. Brady O'Sullivan and Jake Ericksen were out of action Friday, however.
The game got off to a slow start on the scoreboard, with no scoring in the first period. North Stars goaltender Spencer Tremblay was stellar in net, though, stopping all ten Bruins shots in the first period.
The second period saw the North Stars take the lead. The North Stars had a 3-on-1 break on the Estevan net and it was Nick Fountain at the 5:50 mark, from Bryce Hall and Jordan Townsend, who put them up 1-0.
Hall later scored from Connor Sych and Brenden Heinrich on the power play at the 18:02 mark to give them a 2-0 lead, and they seemed to be in control.
But the Bruins, who have come back from 2-0 down five times during the regular season, had other ideas.
Slowly but surely, things fell apart in the third period for the North Stars. Kurt Sonne, from Wyatt Garagan, beat Tremblay at the 2:44 mark to cut the margin to one.
Then with the Bruins on the power play Keegan Allison scored from Charles Manley and Zach Douglas at 8:57, and it was tied up.
Brad Arabia's goal from Levi Barnstable and Lynnden Pastachak at 10:48 completed the comeback for Estevan as they grabbed the lead.
That proved the difference, as they held on for the rest of the game for the 3-2 win that silenced the audience of 810 fans in attendance.
Final shots on goal favoured the Bruins 32-27, with Tyler Fuhr stopping 25 shots for the victory.
Despite the loss, the North Stars had to get over it quickly as game two took place the following night, Saturday.
The North Stars came out flying to start game two. They had racked up a 9-2 shots advantage when Igor Leonenko beat Fuhr, with Nick Fountain and Brock Weston assisting, midway through the first.
The score was 1-0 North Stars after one; shots on goal favoured the North Stars 13-11.
In the second, penalties became a big concern for the North Stars.
Two penalties in a row had Logan Nachtegaele in the box, but the North Stars were able to kill off both of those, and caught a break not long after. Nick Fountain scored from Saharchuk and Baxter Kantor at 6:37. Fountain has been a standout for the North Stars in the playoffs so far with three points in the series.
"Nick's a 20 year old, he's a leader," said coach Hasselberg later. "He's been through these wars before.
"We need Nick Fountain to be that player for us, he's got to be MVP quality."
So just as it was in game one, the score was 2-0.
But midway through the period, Fountain wound up a fight versus RT Rice that resulted in a two-minute minor to Rice and a five minute major and game misconduct penalty to Fountain; he also got two minutes for instigating.
That put the North Stars in another penalty hole, but they were able to kill that off as well.
Fountain was done for the evening, but an even bigger concern was the health of Delainey, who did not return for the second period at all.
A cross checking penalty to Zach Douglas put the North Stars on the power play, but Heinrich hit the side of the post, and despite some chances the North Stars were stonewalled by Fuhr.
Despite another power play to end the period, it remained 2-0 for the North Stars. Shots on goal favoured the Battlefords by this point 25-20.
The third period moved quickly -- much to the North Stars' liking. But the North Stars seemed to lose steam as the game wound down. A cross checking penalty to McMillen with 6:55 remaining gave the Bruins life again late in the period, and even though the North Stars killed the penalty off, they were on their heels for much of the latter stages of the game.
The Bruins finally were able to pull Fuhr for the extra attacker late in the period, and the Bruins managed to beat Tremblay with 23 seconds left.
But that was it. A fight erupted right at the final horn as Pasternak, as he left the penalty box, got into a melee with Fransoo. The situation could have turned out far worse than it did, but the coaches were finally able to calm things down and get the players back to the dressing rooms.
It was a wild ending to a 2-1 North Stars win. Bruins ended up outshooting the North Stars again 37-35.
Coach Hasselberg credited he performance of the veteran players including Statschuk, Heinrich and Tremblay. He cited "attitude" as the key difference in the effort in game two.
"Tonight we worked together with all 20 players pulling in the same direction, and last night we were pulling in all different directions. Call it nerves, call it whatever you want to do, it's been the case all season long, Our guys find a way to respond when they're kicked to the ground a little bit."
The series continues Monday night with game three in Estevan.
