It's always an eventful road trip for the Battlefords North Stars to the southeast region of the province, but this past weekend was perhaps more so than most.
A big reason for that was the fact they were in Carnduff to take part in Cameco Hockey Day in Saskatchewan festivities against the Notre Dame Hounds. But they were also in Weyburn for a matchup with a team that suddenly appears to have a very uncertain future in the SJHL.
The matchup Friday between the North Stars and the Weyburn Red Wings came on the heels of widespread reports that the Red Wings were possibly on the brink of folding at the end of the season.
The team's president Larry Tribiger had confirmed to the Weyburn Review earlier in the week that the team faced a debt of between $180,000 and $200,000.
Despite the uncertainty, there was a game to play Friday, and play they did.
After a scoreless first period, Jake McMillen opened the scoring for the North Stars early in the second from Jake Erickson and Nick Fountain on the power play. Weyburn then tied it up with the goal from Brendan McKay, and then Matt Eng gave the Red Wings the lead at the 10:38 mark.
After that it became the Igor Leonenko show, as he tied the game with Jordan Townsend assisting at 12:17 of the second period. Then at 10:41 of the third, Leonenko gave the North Stars the lead with Jackson Bond and Matt Havens assisting.
Despite a furious effort by the Wings to come back the North Stars held on for the 3-2 road win. Weyburn outshot the Battlefords 31-21 but Ryan Rewerts stopped 29 of those 31 shots for the victory.
Saturday came the day-long festivities in Carnduff for Hockey Day in Saskatchewan, which included a pancake breakfast and a roast beef dinner, as well as midget games. The North Stars were involved in a novice and initiation camp earlier in the day.
Later on was the game itself versus Notre Dame, held at the Carnduff First Centennial Arena.
Sam Aulie got things rolling for Notre Dame with a shorthanded goal, but the North Stars tied it up quickly as Connor Sych scored on the power play from Erickson and Matthew Saharchuk to make it 1-1.
The teams traded goals in the second period as well, as Kobe Kindrachuk's goal was answered by Matt Havens at the 10:23 mark, with Fountain and Bond getting the assists.
It remained 2-2 right through the overtime and into the shootout. Cory Anderson and Sam Aulie each scored in the shootout for the Hounds but the North Stars couldn't muster a goal and ended up on the wrong end of a 3-2 final.
Ryan Rewerts again was kept busy in net, stopping 35 of 37 shots.
After the excitement of Hockey Day in Saskatchewan, the final game of the road trip was in Estevan as the North Stars took on the Bruins Sunday.
The first period had a slow start for the North Stars as Estevan outshot them 16-8, but there were no goals through one. In fact it turned into a goalie duel between the North Stars' Spencer Tremblay and Estevan's Tyler Fuhr, and there was no scoring at all for three periods and after overtime as well. Shots on goal were 42-30 for the Bruins through overtime.
That meant another shootout situation for the North Stars. The shootout proved to be more of the same, with the first three rounds of the shootout seeing no scoring. Finally, Matt Havens was able to solve Fuhr and won the game for the North Stars, 1-0.
Overall the North Stars earned five out of a potential six points on the weekend road trip to the Southeast, moving to a record of 20-13-6-1 on the season.
Next action for the North Stars is Wednesday night, again on the road in Humboldt against the Broncos.
