Despite injuries and adversity the Battlefords North Stars keep finding ways to win.
This time, it was rock-solid net minding from a goaltender forced into action in relief, leading the North Stars to a sweep of back-to-back home games last week.
A 3-1 win over their rivals the Nipawin Hawks Thursday was followed up by a 1-0 shootout win Saturday over the Weyburn Red Wings to keep the North Stars right in the thick of an ever-tightening race in the Bauer conference.
The story of the weekend was the performance of Casey Parker, who began Thursday night on the bench as Connor Creech got the start against Nipawin.
The Hawks scored first in that contest, as Michael Lambert scored from Wheaton King and Jesse Bernard to make it 1-0 Nipawin on a power play.
But at the 19:06 mark play was stopped and Creech left the game with an apparent leg injury. That gave Parker his opportunity in the North Stars net, and he would not disappoint.
Parker would be a brick wall in goal not only for the rest of that game but also for three periods, overtime and the entire shootout Saturday as the opposition could not solve Parker for the next two games.
In the game against Nipawin, the North Stars started their comeback in the second period as Austin Evans scored shorthanded at the 16:11 mark with Luke McColgan sitting in the box for cross checking.
In the third period the North Stars went ahead to stay as Braeden Johnson scored his seventh of the year from Keenan Martens to make it 2-1 on the power play at 8:43, and then the insurance marker was notched at the 12 minute mark when McColgan scored unassisted.
The game was livened up by a fight in the third between the North Stars' Robbie Newton and the Hawks' Dustin Skilliter at the 10:01 mark, as the Stars ended up on the right side of a hard-fought 3-1 victory score over the team they beat in last year's SJHL playoffs.
Connor Creech stopped 11 of 12 in net while Parker stopped all 17 shots fired his way to preserve the win at the Civic Centre before 663 fans.
The Saturday game was against the Weyburn Red Wings who are currently languishing at the bottom of the SJHL standings with only nine wins on the season.
The Red Wings did not look like a last-place team Saturday, however, keeping it close with the North Stars through three scoreless periods despite being outshot 32-25. Helping the North Stars' cause was good penalty killing as they wound up shutting down four Weyburn power play opportunities in the game.
However, the North Stars could never find the back of the net during regulation time and the overtime frame. They were dealt a further blow when one of their top performers, Brody Luhning, was tossed from the game at the 13:34 mark of the third for a blow-to-the-head penalty, a second ten-minute misconduct and a game misconduct. Luhning was not happy, slamming the door behind him as he stormed off the ice back to his dressing room.
Despite losing Luhning for the rest of the game, the North Stars hung in through the five-minute overtime as Parker continued to be a brick wall in their own net.
Victory did not come easy for the North Stars in the shootout, as only Luke McColgan was able to beat Jean-Philippe Boucher during that frame.
However, none of the three Red Wings - Miguel Pereira, Lane Harbor or Kyle Oleniuk - was able to beat Parker.
With that final stop, Parker was able to celebrate with the rest of his teammates as the North Stars scored a 1-0 shootout win, their third victory in a row.
After the game Saturday, head coach Kevin Hasselburg said it was definitely Parker's night.
"With three saves in the shootout and over a hundred minutes played now without a goal against, he's definitely persevered under extreme circumstances and he deserves a big pat on the back for tonight."
Hasselburg said his favorite moment was seeing Parker celebrate after the third stop in the shootout. "That's a confident kid and that's somebody who's worked extremely hard under difficult situations and to see him come out with that celebration and that kind of passion, it definitely makes you feel good for him and its well deserved on his part."
Hasselburg also credited the penalty killing during the past two games, something the team has worked on and the coach says has improved over the past 10 games.
"Our guys are really buckling down and certain players are going to be on for all our penalty killing situations."
Overall, it was a gritty performance for the North Stars during their home stand despite a still-depleted and injury-riddled roster. Out of the lineup lately have been names such as Matt Sheeran, Tanner Quinn, Dillon Forbes and Ryne Keller, with Keller returning to the line up Saturday.
There were some call ups from the midget ranks in the line up the last couple of games. Among them were defenseman Connor Sych, who played against Weyburn Saturday; meanwhile ne tminder Taryn Katchorek was backing up Parker in goal, though he did not see playing time. Hasselberg believes the future of the club looks bright.
"We're really excited about the future and another icing of the cake is that a lot of that future is right here in North Battleford and the Battlefords."
The North Stars still have three more games before the Christmas break, including a scheduled return match with the Hawks Tuesday in Nipawin. The North Stars were also scheduled to host league-leading Flin Flon Wednesday.
After Saturday's action Hasselburg said the immediate plan was for the team to get some rest and also get some players back in the lineup for the final stretch of games. The coach also noted the toughest stretch of the season is still to come during the month of January.
"We're not going to lose sight that it took a lot to get to this point and we've got a lot more hard work in front of us."
