The Battlefords North Stars dominance over the rest of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in post-season play has come to an end.
The defending Canalta Cup champions had their 16-game playoff win streak snapped by the Estevan Bruins Friday at the Civic Centre as the visitors opened up the best-of-seven semifinal series with a 5-3 triumph.
“We just weren’t ourselves tonight,” North Stars head coach and general manager Brandon Heck. “There were some players that did some good things, especially late in the game, but it’s tough to come back from three goals against a team like Estevan.
“We let them have too many odd-man rushes in the second period, but we made some adjustments in the third period to our forecheck to fix that issue. With that said, we turned the puck over too many times and that’s the biggest thing I’d like to see improved upon for tomorrow night.”
While the North Stars suffered the taste of defeat for their first time in the post-season since a Game 5 defeat in the 2016 semifinals to the Flin Flon Bombers that ended their campaign, the Bruins improved their playoff record to 5-0 as they continued their winning ways after a sweep of the Kindersley Klippers in the quarter-finals.
“It’s just one game but we’re really happy about getting things started here on the right foot,” Bruins forward Zach Goberis said.
“We stepped up our level of play tonight even more than where it was at against Kindersley. Having lost to the North Stars in the semifinal last year, we know that we have to be on our toes and fight hard in every single shift against them.”
It was a well-balanced performance from the Bruins, who were outshot by a 35-22 margin by the North Stars.
They received timely saves from goaltender Bo Didur, especially in the third period when he turned aside 14 shots, and also scored three times on the man advantage.
“We saw a little bit of everything from our guys tonight,” Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood said.
“We know that Battlefords is capable of quite a lot out there, so all week long we preached about focusing on the things that we could control and embracing our strengths as a team.”
Arthur Miller scored twice for the Bruins, while Goberis had a goal and an assist on offence and blueliner Jake Heerspink had a pair of helpers.
Kaelan Holt and Jake Fletcher rounded out the scoring as Didur turned aside 32 shots.
Layne Young and Cole Johnson paced the North Stars up front with two assists each.
Levi Kleiboer, MacGregor Sinclair and Brad Girard all found the back of the net, while Joel Grzybowski made 17 saves.
The North Stars will look to even up the series Saturday as they’ll host the Bruins once again in a 7:30 p.m. tilt at the Civic Centre.
In the other SJHL semifinal matchup, Michael Grant scored on the power play in double overtime for the Nipawin Hawks as they took Game 1 by a score of 3-2 at home over the Humboldt Broncos.
Tyler Adams and Thomas Lenchyshyn also found the back of the net for the Hawks, who received a 33 save performance from Declan Hobbs.
The Broncos got their goals from Bryce Fiske and Conner Lukan, while netminder Parker Tobin made 44 saves.
The two sides will be back in action Saturday in Nipawin.
