It could not have been a more exciting way for the North Stars to notch their first victory of the season.
Matthias Urbanski put the puck in the Melfort Mustangs’ net with 19 seconds left of overtime to secure a 4-3 victory for the North Stars.
“Obviously it’s a great feeling any time you could get a goal like that,” said Urbanski after the game.
“Obviously everyone on the team put in a great effort tonight. Especially (Joel) Grzybowski, you can’t thank him enough. Yeah, just everyone putting in a 100 per cent effort is wonderful.”
It had not been a perfect game for the North Stars by any means. They were badly outshot by Melfort at one point, and they also blew a two-goal lead.
But the club hung in, and got the crucial “w” they needed to avoid a dreaded 0-3 start to the season.
“I think the guys battled hard, it wasn’t easy,” said coach Brayden Klimosko following the game. “Whatever went wrong went wrong for us at times, but you know, we dug in our heels and got two points. At the end of the day that’s all we can ask for.”
The North Stars opened the scoring at the 16:09 mark on Braydon Buziak’s first goal of the season shorthanded from Tanner Robin. The goal came with Brett Gammer still in the box serving a hooking penalty.
Justin Ball tied it at the 17:36 mark, and then Jacob Bayne restored the North Stars lead at the 18:11 mark with assists from Urbanski and MacGregor Sinclair.
A power play goal for Sinclair at the 13:31 mark of the second gave the North Stars a 3-1 lead. Urbanski got his second assist of the game on that goal.
But Ryan Granville was called for a kneeing penalty late in the second, and he was still in the box when Colin Schmidt found the net from Tanner Zentner and Carson Albrecht with a minute left in the period, cutting the lead to 3-2.
The North Stars lead disappeared 58 seconds into the third with Tyson Meyers’ goal. But Urbanski’s goal from Elijah Loon-Stewardson and Cody Spagrud won the game with 19 seconds remaining in the overtime frame.
Joel Grzybowski stopped 28 of 31 shots to get the win. Hunter Arps stopped 25 of 29 in the Melfort net.
It had been a close contest throughout. As for what made the difference, Klimosko said he believes his guys “wanted it just a little bit more.”
The win was a confidence booster for the team as they headed into a heavy stretch of games on the road, starting in Humboldt on Saturday and then at the SJHL Showcase in Warman on Sunday and Tuesday against La Ronge and Weyburn.
“The boys deserved a ‘w,’ they’ve been working hard lately,” said Klimosko.
