The two eastern Saskatchewan teams in the SJHL were at the Civic Centre Friday and Saturday for games against the Battlefords North Stars.
The Melville Millionaires were in town Friday and the Yorkton Terriers, Saturday, and the result was a split of the two games. The North Stars took down Melville 5-3 but could not keep pace with Yorkton 6-4.
North Stars 5 Melville 3
There were two main storylines in the game. The first was that it was the first start for Adam Dmyterko in net for the North Stars. The other story was that the North Stars absolutely pummeled Melville goalie Berk Berkeliev with shots on goal, outshooting the Millionaires 47-24.
Despite that overwhelming advantage, Melville kept it close throughout. The North Stars got off to a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals from Matthias Urbanski (Ryan Gil assisting) and on the power play from Cody Spagrud (Urbanski and MacGregor Sinclair assisting).
But Jacob Bourchier brought the Mils within one early in the second period. Midway through the second, Elijah Loon-Stewardson got his second of the season from Owen Lamb and Braydon Buziak, and the score was 3-1 through two.
At this point the North Stars seemed to be completely dominating, outshooting the Mils 32-14. And that domination seemed to continue into the third period.
The only problem was that the Mils found a way to put the puck into the net. With Shaye Sommerfeld in the box for high sticking, Sam De Melo scored on the power play at the 7:02 mark. Aidan Steinke assisting. One minute and one second later, the tying goal went in from Tyler Pryhitka from Jaxon Tait and Jaden Shewchuk.
But the North Stars got a late goal from Regan Doig, his first of the season, from Brett Gammer and Cody Spagrud, and then Owen Lamb scored a shorthanded goal into the empty net from Matthew Fletcher at the 19:23 mark to seal up what turned out to be a hard-fought win.
Urbanski was named first star with one goal and an assist, while Doig and Loon-Stewardson rounded out the three stars.
Yorkton 6 North Stars 4
For the second straight game the Battlefords North Stars outshot their opposition, this time 34-32.
But yet again it didn’t translate into an easy win. In fact this time the North Stars lost on home ice despite taking a first-period lead.
Austin Becker got the scoring started for the North Stars at the 10:50 mark of the first, with Doig and Spagrud assisting.
But Aiden Bulych tied it six minutes into period two, Branden Klatt and Tyson Kanzen assisting. Cody Bruchkowski then gave Yorkton the lead at the 7:41 mark from Chantz Petruic and Colby Brandt.
Elijah Loon-Stewardson tied the game on the power play with his second goal in as many nights, Doig and Gil assisting, at 11:02. But literally seconds later, Branden Klatt’s sixth of the season restored a lead for Yorkton.
A breakaway by MacGregor Sinclair brought the North Stars back to even at 3-3 with his sixth goal of the season, Becker assisting. That was the score heading into the third.
In that third period a goal from Braydon Buziak at the 10:36 mark, Loon-Stewardson assisting, put the North Stars ahead 4-3. But as was the case in the second period, Yorkton immediately responded within seconds. Quinten Hobbs tied it up at 4-4 at the 11:01 mark.
At 12:45, Tyson Janzen gave Yorkton the lead to stay with Colby Brandt and Cody Bruchkowski assisting.
Chantz Petruic’s eighth of the season into an empty net sealed up the 6-4 Yorkton win.
Ben Laidlaw got the win for Yorkton stopping 30 of 34 shots and was named the number one star, with Petruic and Loon-Stewardson named the other stars. Joel Grzybowski was back in net for the North Stars and let in five goals out of the 31 shots he faced.
The loss dropped the North Stars to 6-4-0-1 on the season, now four points back of the Humboldt Broncos and Kindersley Klippers in the Global Ag Risk Solutions Division. The North Stars were scheduled to take on La Ronge at home Wednesday night and again Friday.
