The Battlefords North Stars have advanced to the opening round of the playoffs.
After dropping game four in Estevan, the North Stars had to win at home last night or face an early elimination from the playoffs.
Nick Fountain, a 20-year-old in his final year of junior, wouldn’t let that happen.
Fountain had a hat trick including the empty net goal to ice the game as the North Stars downed the Bruins 5-2 in game five of the survivor series to book their ticket to the opening round against the Kindersley Klippers.
Fountain got the scoring started when he stopped a shot from the point by Michael Statchuk, then swung the puck around on his forehand and beat Tyler Fuhr five hole to open the scoring just 2:08 into the game.
Igor Leonenko got the second assist.
The shots ended 14-9 in favour of the Bruins after the first despite being 5-0 for the North Stars early in the game.
Jake Erickson returned to the North Stars lineup after missing the first four games of the series, and made his presence known in the second period.
He hit Matt Saharchuk with a lead pass, and Saharchuk turned on the jets and blew past Charles Manley before cutting in front of the net and beating Fuhr to double the North Stars lead.
Less than three minutes later, Baxter Kanter stole the puck from a Bruins defenceman before giving it to Otto Mitchell in the high slot.
Before Fuhr had time to react, Mitchell fired the puck over the glove of Fuhr to give the North Stars a 3-0 lead.
The Bruins continued to outshoot the North Stars, 22-18 after two, but found themselves in a large 3-0 hole heading into the final period of their season.
Five minutes into the third, Fountain scored almost a carbon copy of Saharchuks goal by cutting from the right wing in front of the net and beating Fuhr to make it 4-0.
But the Bruins weren’t going to roll over and accept defeat.
Just 16 seconds later, Taylor Ross took a stretch pass from Bruins captain Nolan Nicholas and beat Spencer Tremblay on a breakaway to get his team on the board.
Five minutes later, 15-year-old defenceman Brayden Pachal fired a shot from the point that beat Tremblay through a screen to cut the lead to 4-2.
Pachal was playing in just his sixth career SJHL game, and was the 40th overall pick in the 2014 WHL draft by the Victoria Royals.
Tremblay stood tall after Pachal’s goal, and the North Stars watched the clock count down until Fountain scored his hat trick goal into an empty net with 32 seconds left.
The North Stars are now set to face their Kramer Division rival Kindersley Klippers in the opening round of the playoffs, with game one tonight in Kindersley.
The two teams are no strangers to each other as they have already played eight times this season.
Including pre-season, the North Stars have a 4-2-2 record against the Klippers this year.
The North Stars return home for game two Sunday.
Puck drop for each game of the series is at 7:30 p.m.
