The Battlefords North Stars ended the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League regular season with games against the top four teams in the league.
After beating Humboldt Feb. 17 they continued their strong play and beat another Bauer Conference rival in the Nipawin Hawks Friday in the final regular season game on home ice.
It was the largest crowd of the season for ticket redemption night at the Civic Centre and 1,548 fans piled in to watch the North Stars pull out the 5-4 shootout win. Both teams knew where they would finish in the standings, so the intensity level was maybe not at its peak, but the fans were entertained by an eventful and exciting hockey game.
It was a chippy first period, and the North Stars were out shot 6-0 until Jake McMillen put two shots on net and chipped the second in over Davis Jones' pad. Josh Betinol and Brandon Long earned the assists.
Later in the period, Spencer Gosselin jumped into the rush and took a nice pass at the blue-line. He moved in on net and scored five-high with a deke on Jones. Long and McMillen drew the assists.
Nipawin responded the next shift with Tad Kozun finding the back on the net.
The North Stars went on the power play the next shift and Gosselin was credited with the goal on a point shot. Betinol was parked in front of the net and appeared to tip the shot and, if not, provided a good screen. Long and Kyle Schmidt earned the assists on the goal.
In the second period, Mitch Doell scored twice for the Hawks while Luke McColgan scored late in the period from Dillon Forbes and Brody Luhning to give the North Stars the 4-3 lead heading into the third period.
Kozun tied the game in the third period and forced overtime.
Nothing was solved in the overtime and the game went to a shootout. Nipawin used three defenceman in the shootout, as the extra point didn't matter to them while the North Stars used Betinol, McColgan and Luhning. Luhning scored the lone goal on a beautiful deke that brought the fans to their feet and put a smile on his coaches' and teammates' faces.
Connor Creech made 27 saves in 65 minutes of work earning his 19th win of the season.
The next night, Creech was in net once again, as the North Stars were on the road in Melville.
Tyler Bird scored the game's first goal putting the Millionaires up 1-0, but Gosselin scored late in the first period from McColgan to tie things up.
In the second period, Sean Aschim and Russell Trudeau scored for Melville, as they skated to a 3-1 win.
Creech made 31 saves in the loss while Alex Wakaluk sopped 36 shots in the Melville net. The Millionaires were 1/6 with the man advantage and the North Stars were 0/6.
Sunday, in the final game of the regular season, the North Star suffered a hard fought 4-2 loss at the hands of the Yorkton Terriers.
The North Stars Kyle Hall scored the lone tally of the first period with Braeden Johnson and Luhning assisting on the power play goal.
In the second frame, Yorkton got goals from Dylan Johnson, Devon McMullen and Kailum Gervais. Johnson scored for the North Stars from Austin Evans and Hall.
In the third period, the Terriers outshot the North Stars 11-5 and sealed the game with a late empty net goal by Tayler Thompson.
Casey Parker faced 31 shots in the North Stars' net while Dawson MacAuley turned away 21 shots for the win.
The North Stars finished the regular season with a 26-24-2-5 record and in fourth place in the Bauer Conference and seventh in the SJHL.
They now will face the Melfort Mustangs in the survivor series. The North Stars have home ice advantage, as the series gets started Friday at the Civic Centre. Game two is Saturday in Melfort with game three back in the Battleford Monday.
