The Battlefords North Stars and their fans can finally exhale.
The North Stars won their quarter-final series with the Flin Flon Bombers, taking game seven 4-1 and, in the process, squashing the Bombers’ attempt to pull off one of the greatest playoff comebacks in the history of the SJHL.
The Bombers had trailed the series 3-0, and roared back with three wins in a row to tie the series. Flin Flon fans lined the streets to give their team a huge sendoff as their team bus headed for the Battlefords for game seven.
But the North Stars ended the Bombers’ miracle comeback by erupting for three goals in the first period. The Bombers never recovered, despite eventually outshooting the North Stars 40-35 in the game.
“It was a big win,” said a relieved-looking North Stars head coach Brayden Klimosko afterwards.
“The boys played well. The first period was really good for us, and I think overall we dug deep. It wasn’t easy, Flin Flon just worked hard. We got ourselves the big win and back to work tomorrow. Another series.”
If there was any nervousness among the North Stars players, it disappeared quickly after they struck first in period one. Brett Gammer scored from Matthias Urbanski and Owen Lamb just past the five minute mark for a 1-0 lead.
The Stars thought they had made it 2-0 at the 7:26 mark as Ryan Gil put the puck into the Bombers net, but no sooner had Gil begun celebrating than the officials waived it off, and called a penalty to Austin Becker for goaltender interference. Fortunately solid goaltending by Joel Grzybowski kept the North Stars in front.
At the 9:49 mark of the first the North Stars had another great opportunity as Macgregor Sinclair moved in on the Bombers net. As he moved towards the net, Sinclair was hauled down, and officials immediately awarding him a penalty shot.
Unfortunately, Sinclair could not find the net on the penalty shot as Gabriel Waked made the pad save.
Late in the period the North Stars got two big goals. Seth Summers scores from Quintin Loon-Stewardson at 15:33 to make it 2-0.
As the period wound down Braydon Buziak scored from Quintin Loon-Stewardson with 1:44 left, giving the North Stars a comfortable 3-0 cushion. That was all the scoring through one. Shots favoured the North Stars 15-12.
While the North Stars continued to dominate play in the second period, the Bombers did not quit. There was plenty of pushing and shoving, but referees let the rough stuff go throughout a scoreless second period.
In the third, the North Stars put a final dagger into the Bombers’ hopes with a goal from Quintin Loon-Stewardson that sent the fans into a frenzy with 8:43 to go.
The only question left was whether Joel Grzybowski would get the shutout, but those hopes ended at 13:55 as Daylan Marchi scored the only Bombers goal of the night. Grzybowski ended the night having stopped 39 of 40 Bombers shots, while Gabriel Waked stopped 31 of 35 from the North Stars.
The North Stars return to action Friday night for game one of the SJHL semifinals against the surprising Yorkton Terriers.
The Terriers stunned the entire SJHL by beating the defending champion Nipawin Hawks 4-3 on Tuesday in Nipawin. That result now means the North Stars hold home-ice advantage for the rest of the SJHL playoffs.
The other semifinal series will see the Melfort Mustangs take on the Estevan Bruins, who won their seventh game against the Humboldt Broncos by a 3-2 score in overtime.
