The Battlefords North Stars returned to the win column Wednesday with a much-needed 4-0 triumph over the struggling La Ronge Ice Wolves.
Goaltender Joel Grzybowski earned his first shutout of the season with the win.
Helping matters considerably was the fact that he did not have to stop a multitude of shots. The North Stars put in a much better defensive performance than they did in their 6-4 loss to Yorkton Saturday night, and kept the shots Grzybowski faced to a minimum.
The North Stars outshot the Ice Wolves 12-5 in the first period and 14-9 in the second.
But the scoring did not start until period 2 when Braydon Buziak scored his third of the season from Owen Lamb and Matthias Urbanski. It was a power play goal with Shane Hounsell in the box for interference.
The third period saw the North Stars outshoot La Ronge 19-9. While the play of goaltender Merek Pipes, with a little help from the goalposts, kept the Ice Wolves in the contest, the dam finally broke midway through the third when Matthias Urbanski got his eighth of the season from Cody Spagrud and MacGregor Sinclair.
Urbanski then scored his ninth of the season at the 14:40 mark from Ryan Gil and Sinclair.
Tanner Robin completed the scoring with 1:11 to go, with Kaden Boser getting the assist.
The win was the seventh of the season for the North Stars as they kept pace with division rivals Kindersley while gaining ground on the Humboldt Broncos.
Kindersley handed the Broncos a 6-1 defeat the same night in a battle for first place. Division rivals Notre Dame also lost 5-4 to Yorkton. The Hounds remain in the division basement.
The North Stars and Ice Wolves battle again Friday night. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at the Civic Centre.
