The Melfort Mustangs continue to give fits to the Battlefords North Stars this season.
After losing to the Mustangs 5-2 in a game in Melfort earlier this season, the North Stars lost again at home to them Wednesday by a 3-1 score, for their third loss in a row.
The game fell on "North Stars Rainbow Toyota Teddy Bear Toss" night, when fans tossed stuffed animals on the ice following the North Stars' first goal. The stuffed animals will be going to Battlefords Union Hospital and distributed by the Empty Stocking Fund.
The tossed bears were about the only highlight of the game from a Battlefords perspective. By the end, it was clear coach Kevin Hasselberg felt Melfort had out-worked his team and that the North Stars had tossed two points away.
"I'm not happy," said the coach. "We came out with a very average effort, we lost a lot of small area battles. A combined seven shots from both teams in the first period - that's not how we play in front of our home town crowd."
The loss drew Melfort even closer in the race for fourth place in the Bauer Conference, now just one point back of the North Stars - a fact not lost on Hasselberg.
"These were two points that were meaningful but obviously not meaningful enough for some of the players in that dressing room."
It was indeed a rather listless affair from the get-go with the North Stars only recording five shots in the first period compared to Melfort's two. While things did pick up in the second period and the North Stars ended up out-shooting Melfort, they clearly couldn't find the net for the most part.
The North Stars did get the first goal late in the first period. Jake McMillen's effort on a 5-on-3 power play gave the North Stars a 1-0 lead with assists from Josh Betinol and Brody Luhning.
That was the cue for many of the 630 fans in attendance at North Battleford Civic Centre to immediately toss stuffed bears and other animals onto the ice surface.
In the second period, the North Stars continued to outshoot the Mustangs, but Melfort made the most of their opportunities and scored twice in the frame. Brandon Sloan scored at the 2:39 mark from Jarrett Zentner and Zachary Walker to knot things up.
Then, right from the face-off, the Mustangs took the lead as Brady Goebel scored from Brennen Bosowich and Anthony Pickering at 12:54.
Shots on goal were 19 to 11 in favour of the North Stars after two periods, but despite that, Melfort left the ice with a 2-1 lead heading into the third.
In the third period, the North Stars outshot Melfort 12-9. Again, though, the North Stars could not find the net.
Zentner, hit the empty net at the 19:16 mark, and sealed the victory for Melfort.
Connor Creech stopped 17 of 19 shots fired at him on the night while Patrick Johnson stopped 30 of 31 for Melfort.
The North Stars had entered the game with their lineup depleted, with Dillon Forbes, Tanner Quinn and Luke McColgan still out of the lineup. By the end of it, Matt Sheeran appeared to be the latest to join the injured list, as he was seen exiting the ice holding his left arm in the third period.
For Melfort, the effort was much-improved coming on the heels of a 6-1 bombing at the hands of the Kindersley Klippers the previous night.
As for the North Stars, their recent five-game winning streak seems a distant memory now with this third straight defeat.
The game was the first of a home-and-road for the North Stars, as they go to Melfort Friday. Clearly the North Stars needed to find a way to turn it around against a division rival that was breathing up their necks in the standings.
"They're a very determined hockey team. They have been against us. They understand the situation of where things are at in the standings and what needs to be done to move forward," said Hasselberg.
Hasselberg said the North Stars had to go into Melfort with the "same mentality and take two points from them."
