It’s no secret the Battlefords North Stars and Kindersley Klippers don’t like each other. Through two games, this series has been nothing but physical. Tuesday was no different, as the Battlefords looked for the stranglehold and a 3-0 series advantage, all while extending their season high win streak to 14 games.
A familiar face was back in the lineup, too. One of their top goal scorers, Dustin Gorgi, returned after a check from behind sidelined him for the first two games.
“It was pretty exciting," Gorgi said after the game. "Three weeks off is a pretty long time, I was pretty tired. But it was great that we got the win and now we get to go to Kindersley Thursday and hopefully get the sweep.”
He provided the empty net goal that bolstered the North Stars to a 7-4 victory.
On the other end, it didn’t take long for netminder, Tyler Fuhr, to make his presence known. Just 20 seconds into the game the North Stars goalie sprawled out for not one, but two incredible saves to keep the game scoreless.
Fuhr walked away with a 31-save performance.
In transition, Coby Downs stayed hot with his third tally of the playoffs. Number 16 corralled a pass from Connor Sych on the left wing before wristing a rifle of a shot past Nathan Hargrave, far-side and over his glove. The tally made it 1-0 for the black and white and brought the anxious crowd at the Civic Centre to their feet.
Kindersley responded with a power play goal in the final three minutes of the opening frame. A strong block from Sych on a point shot by Matt VanderSloot took an unfortunate bounce for the North Stars. After ricocheting off the shinguards of the defenceman, the puck found the blade of Cody Young on the far-side faceoff circle. Young wristed home his sixth of the playoffs into a wide open cage. Holden Daley drew the second assist.
Layne Young broke the tie three minutes into the middle stanza. On a shorthanded break, him and Downs cooked up a nice two-on-one together. Slicing down the left wing, Downs fed a pass for Young, who drove to the net. The rookie of the year was able to wait out Hargrave on the back hand, scoring his third of the postseason.
The Klippers responded quickly, though. After Fuhr made consecutive saves, Daniell Lange wristed a rebound bar and in, bringing the Klippers back and tying the game at two. Austin Calladine and Dexter Bricker collaborated on the goal.
The North Stars fired 13 shots to the Klippers nine in the second period, and led 26-24 moving into the final frame.
Kindersley came out of the intermission and quickly capitalized with their third power play goal of the tilt. Lange found the puck on the left wing after a breakout pass bounced off a skate in the neutral zone. The forward broke in from the left hash mark and heard the sound of the bar before the puck trickled over the goal line, beating Fuhr over his glove.
The teams continued to exchange blows as leading scorer, Igor Leonenko, scored his second of the playoffs with 12 minutes left. Ryan Rosenberg snapped a shot from the blue line, but was blocked. Leonenko found the puck in his skates and fired a turnaround wrist shot, sliding the puck just past the right pad of Hargrave to tie the game back up.
The Battlefords poured on the offence after Jordan Wiest pinched into the slot and one-timed a Leonenko pass home, giving the North Stars a 4-3 lead. The heart and soul of the blue line made a significant impact on both sides of the ice, but none bigger than the mark that provided the one-goal advantage. Klippers leading goal scorer, Calladine, then took a costly roughing penalty, setting the stage for three unanswered goals.
“We talk about staying positive in the room,” Young said of the Battlefords recent third period success, “We try and keep calm and figure out what we’re doing wrong. It seems like once we talk and get it figured out, we’re good to go.”
Kindersley refused to throw in the towel late in the third. Dexter Bricker took a Branden Scheidl pass and wristed a shot through traffic, deflecting off a body and into the back of the net. The goal continued his playoff success, scoring his fourth in two rounds.
This was as close as the Klippers would get.
Leonenko put the game on ice with less than two minutes remaining. A quick snap shot in the slot beat Hargrave low and under the blocker for his third point of the night.
“As a team, these kids are finding a way to win when everything is stacked up against them,” Head Coach Kevin Hasselberg said. “We lost [Rory] Davidson in the second period to a checking from behind [penalty] … Under the circumstances I liked how we finished the second period and we took that momentum.”
The Battlefords go for the sweep and their 15th straight win Thursday in Kindersley.
News-Optimist THREE STARS
1) Igor Leonenko (2 G, 1 A)
2) Coby Downs (1 G, 1 A)
3) Jordan Wiest (1 G)
