Shorthanded goals made the difference Tuesday night for the Battlefords North Stars against the defending SJHL champion Melfort Mustangs.
As expected, it was a hard fought and rough contest with a few penalties, but the shorthanded markers from Layne Young in the second and then Jake McMillen in the third highlighted a 3-2 come-from-behind North Stars win at the Civic Centre.
"It was a great game," said head coach Kevin Hasselberg.
"I was really happy with our guys. We had our high moments, we had our low moments but at the end of the day our guys really squeezed and found a way to work that puck out of the zone with a few seconds left and get the win."
Coming off a string of five defeats in six games, the North Stars were anxious to get back in the win column against a quality opponent. Moreover, first place in the league standings was also at stake for both teams.
"Our guys knew what was on the line. They knew that we'd been struggling to get the results that we were working really hard to earn. Tonight, we found a way to work just a little bit harder and do things a little bit better and obviously that produced some positive results."
North Stars 3 Melfort 2
The North Stars dominated almost from the start in the shots department.
They took the play to the Mustangs and had a couple of power play opportunities in the period, but couldn't capitalize through one. Shots, however, favoured the North Stars 12-5.
In the second, the North Stars extended their shots advantage to 17-5 at one point, and it was 19-7 by the time the North Stars were on the power play again, with Melfort's Craig Leverton off for slashing at 4:38.
But that advantage fizzled. Then, Kendall Fransoo got two minutes for interference at 7:17 forcing the North Stars onto the penalty kill.
With 10 seconds left in Fransoo's penalty, Ryan Rosenberg took a tripping penalty to put the North Stars down two men briefly.
With play back to 5-on-4, it was the Mustangs who finally broke the scoreless deadlock as Tristan Frei beat Taryn Kotchorek at 9:47 to make it 1-0.
Things continued to unravel for the North Stars on the penalty front as Dustin Gorgi took a slashing penalty at 10:26, putting Melfort on the power play yet again for two more minutes.
But with 8:25 left in the period, the North Stars' Layne Young scored shorthanded on Palmer, an unassisted goal. Despite their penalty problems in the period, the North Stars were level again at 1-1.
The clubs traded penalties late in the period, but the tie score held up through two. The period had been a much better one for Melfort, out shooting the North Stars 15-13.
But the North Stars were back on offence to begin the third. With Howard Yawit off for interference, they took the lead at the 3:38 mark as Tanner Nagel scored from Braydon Buziak and Conor Jensen, a power play marker.
Penalties continued to dog the North Stars, however, and they were back to being shorthanded when Jordan Townsend took a slashing call at 7:05.
Once again, the North Stars found a way to capitalize. At the 7:50 mark, Jake McMillen broke free on a breakaway and ripped the puck past Palmer and into the net for the second shorthanded goal of the game for the North Stars.
That goal proved a particular highlight for coach Hasselberg.
"I can't wait to see Jake's goal back on video again. He got his stick on the puck, created a race, he won the race, protected it with his body, and then turned it into another race to the net and he won. And he scored a big goal. And that's the game, that's the way the game is played nowadays. You've got to be smart, you've got to be good with your body, you've got to be good with your stick, and that one goal had all of those elements in it.
The North Stars seemed to have the game in control, but with 7:35 left, an unfortunate bounce of the puck cost the North Stars.
The puck got away from Kotchorek in the crease and Levi Kleiboer, attempting to clear the puck from the side of the goal, ended up putting it into his own net instead.
Ashton Clark got credit for it at 12:25. Fortunately, that play would not come back to haunt the North Stars in the end.
With Palmer pulled for the extra attacker in the final minute, the Mustangs mounted one last furious rush, to no avail. The North Stars held on for a 3-2 home win.
Final shots were 37-29 for the North Stars, and in his second straight start Taryn Kotchorek stopped 27 shots for the victory.
The Battlefords North Stars now have a record of 15 wins, 5 losses and two shootout losses for 32 points, putting them at the top of the SJHL overall standings by two points over both Melfort and Weyburn. They hold an 11-point lead over Notre Dame Hounds in the Finning Division.
The North Stars now head back to the southeast starting Friday for a road trip against teams they have gotten to know quite well in recent weeks: Weyburn, Estevan and Notre Dame.
