The Battlefords North Stars lost Wednesday to the Melfort Mustangs 5-3, and with it, took an immediate drop in the tight SJHL standings.
The win moved the Mustangs a point ahead of the North Stars in the overall standings. The North Stars are now tied for the fifth overall with Humboldt (who beat Notre Dame the same night) and Flin Flon at 61 points. Had they won the game, the North Stars would have been in a tie for first in the division with Kindersley.
The North Stars got on the board early with a goal from Kaden Boser from Brett Gammer at 3:14 of the first period. But Colton Schell and George King answered back to give Melfort the lead through one.
In the second, the North Stars reclaimed the lead with goals from Braydon Buziak at 3:25 from Owen Lamb and Ryan Glanville, and then Lamb scored at 12:03 from Buziak and Macgregor Sinclair. But Carson Albrecht's 28th of the season tied it up again with less than two minutes left in the period.
The third period saw goals from Tanner Zentner at 10:25 and finally from Justin Ball at the 12:44 mark. For Ball it was his 47th of the season, Kayle Tosh and Albrecht assisting.
Noah Giesbrecht got the win in net for Melfort stopping 27 of 30; Joel Grzybowski took the loss stopping 21 of 26.
The North Stars play again Friday night as they finally return home to the Civic Centre; game time is 7:30 pm against the Yorkton Terriers.
