After six days off following two games against the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Lloydminster Bobcats, the Battlefords North Stars were back in action over the weekend.
The team travelled to Humboldt Friday for the first of a home-and-home series with the Broncos.
Friday, despite heavily outshooting the Broncos 38-20, the North Stars dropped a close 3-2 decision.
Otto Mitchell had the first good chance for the North Stars when he had a partial break down the left wing. He was at the end of his shift, however, and clearly out of gas as the defenceman was able to quickly angle him off.
The North Stars opened the scoring almost seven minutes into the period. Bryce Hall gathered the puck along the wall before performing a toe-drag around the Bronco forward before moving towards the middle of the ice and sending a cross-ice pass to Connor Navrot who one-touched the puck between the legs of Josh Webber.
The North Stars held the 1-0 lead after the first period, but it didn’t take long into the second for the Broncos to respond.
One second after Igor Leonenko stepped back onto the ice after a penalty, Kyle Craddock let go a slap shot from the point that eluded a maze of bodies in front of the net and beat Taryn Kotchorek over the blocker to tie the game.
Four minutes later the Broncos took the lead. Colin Woods spotted Andrew Thompson pinching in from the point and fed him a pass into the slot. Thompson quickly ripped a wrist shot over the blocker of Kotchorek to give the Broncos their first lead.
Power play opportunities were plentiful for the North Stars in the game, but they failed to capitalize on any of their opportunities, including back-to-back chances in the second as well as a four-minute power play late in the frame.
Baxter Kanter upped the physical play in the third period by throwing a pair of huge open ice hits. The two teams routinely came together following stoppages in play, exchanging pushes and getting into each others faces.
The Broncos extended their lead to 3-1 when Daniel McKitrick scored on a breakaway 11 minutes into the third. McKitrick used his speed to his advantage as he got Kotchorek to back deep into his net, before firing the puck to the glove side.
Leonenko got the North Stars back to within one with four minutes left in the game. He gathered the puck near his own blue line before carrying it through centre, blowing past the defenceman along the right wing wall and cutting to the net before roofing it past Webber from in close.
The goal seemed to give the North Stars some energy as they had good puck control in the Broncos zone following the goal, but couldn’t find the back of the net again and dropped the 3-2 game.
Saturday the North Stars returned to the friendly confines of the Civic Centre for the rematch.
The power play finally clicked for the North Stars as they used a pair of man-advantage goals to propel themselves to a 3-2 overtime victory.
A scoreless first period wasn’t without it’s chances, as Broncos defenceman Braden Groot prevented a power play goal by laying flat on his stomach and getting his stick in the way of the North Stars jamming away at the puck.
The highlight of the first was Mitchell throwing a thunderous open ice hit on Jace Pesch just moments after he stepped out of the penalty box.
The shots were 16-7 in favour of the North Stars after the first period as they continued the trend from the previous night of consistently throwing pucks on goal.
The North Stars opened the scoring for the second straight night when Leonenko made a nice move to get past the defender along the left wing wall, before sending a cross ice pass to Hall who made no mistake, one-timing the puck past Brett Freisen.
Despite the heavy shot advantage, the North Stars would like to forget the final few minutes of the second period.
The Broncos tied the game after Isaiah Letendre finished off a two-on-one with Rock Ruschkowski with 2:31 remaining in the period.
Then, after hemming the North Stars in their own zone, the Broncos took the lead with just five seconds left in the period as Trevor Posch slapped a loose puck from the faceoff dot over the blocker of Ryan Rewerts.
The third period featured a multitude of power play chances for the North Stars, including a 5-on-3 late in the game.
While they couldn’t capitalize during the two-man advantage, they did score with under a minute left on the second penalty.
Coby Downs had the puck on the goal line and fired a cross-crease pass to Jake McMillen who tapped the puck into the net with 2:35 remaining.
In overtime, the North Stars were given another power play opportunity after Ruschkowski hooked Jordan Wiest as he was carrying the puck out of his own zone.
Connor Sych chipped the puck into the Broncos zone before chasing after it in the corner. He gathered the puck before spotting Leonenko in the slot, feeding him the pass, which Leonenko made no mistake on, beating Freisen for the winner.
The North Stars finished the 2015-16 pre-season with a 2-3 record, with both wins coming at home and both in overtime.
The regular season begins Friday when the North Stars welcome the Kindersley Klippers to the Civic Centre at 7:30.
