The North Saskatchewan River Hockey League will break for a few days for Christmas, and for some teams that also marks the halfway point of their season.
St. Walburg remains the class of the league at 11-0-0. Saturday, the Eagles got off to a slow start against Meadow Lake, but scored three goals in the second period and two in the third en route to a 5-0 win.
Bryan Bridges played 57 minutes earning the win while Kevin Nasby scored twice, with Jordan Fuder, Taylor Thiessen and Zach Wourms scoring for the Eagles. It was the first game any team has been shutout in the NSRHL this season.
Friday in Maidstone, the Eagles won 5-2 with two goals each coming from Fuder and Logan Isley and Randy Larre adding a single marker.
Brett Harrison and Chris Hartman scored for the hometown Jets.
In second place with a 7-3-1 record, the Maidstone Jets were scheduled to play Turtleford Saturday, but the game was postponed and they will be off until Jan. 7.
Meadow Lake holds the third spot in the standings, with a 6-2-1. The Stampeders edged Wilkie 5-2 in Wilkie Friday night.
The Stampeders scored one goal in the first period and three in the second as things got rough around the Wilkie net. Goalie Jared Herle earned a major penalty and game misconduct for spearing.
Meadow Lake's goals came from Darren Caron, Calvin Fiddler, Tedi Hood, Ashton McIntyre and Jordon Oystrick. Will Rathje scored both Wilkie goals in the losing effort.
The next night, the fourth place Outlaws hosted the Spiritwood Timberwolves and improved their record to 5-5-0 with a 5-2 win.
Barrett Penner and Mitch Suchan each scored twice while Bobby Bachman scored once and Curtis Sander earned the win for Wilkie. Ryan Corrigal and Steven Jim scored for the Timberwolves.
Edam fell to 3-5-1 on the season, as they lost to Turtleford 6-4 Friday and lost their third straight game. The 3 Stars led 3-2 after the first period, thanks to two goals by Jordan Blaquiere and Joel Budd scoring his first of two goals on the night.
Turtleford scored twice in the second and broke the 4-4 tie in the third period with goals from Kris Bloom and Kyle Dodgson. Bloom, Jordan Macnab, Craig McKee and Cory Scott also scored earlier in the game for Turtleford. Chad Terres earned the win while Quinton Gauthier was saddled with the loss.
Also Friday there was a battle to stay out of last place and Paradise Hill won 8-3 over Spiritwood to improve to 2-6-0.
Jamie Jeanotte scored four goals and added two assists for Paradise Hill while Derek Jeanotte had two goals and four assists. Matt Hougham and Airik Price scored the other Hawks' goals. Jim, Dallas Schira and Layne Trowel scored for Spiritwood in their first game in the new Spiritwood arena.
At the halfway point, St. Walburg's Fuder leads the league with 33 points in eight games, Maidstone's Harrison is the top goal scorer with 17 goals in 11 games. Bridges of St. Walburg leads all NSRHL goalies with a 1.82 save percentage in 10 games and has 10 wins.
