It could not have been a more exciting way for the Battlefords North Stars to enter the Christmas break.
An overtime goal by Quintin Loon-Stewardson gave the North Stars a 2-1 win at home over the Nipawin Hawks on Sunday evening. It was the second straight win by the North Stars over the league-leading Hawks, after beating them 2-0 at the Civic Centre last Tuesday.
The win means the North Stars enter their Christmas break with a record of 19-9-2-4 for 44 points, just four points behind division-leading Kindersley. The top five teams in the league are all separated by a total of six points, and that reality is not lost on head coach Brayden Klimosko.
“It’s tight, and I think that’s the one thing that doesn’t change even after the break,” said Klimosko. “It’s still going to be grind after Christmas. To get a few here at home late against Nipawin is huge, and we’ll go from there, we’ll see how everything shakes down.”
The game with Nipawin played out much the same as their Tuesday night contest several days earlier – a close contest throughout, with goals coming at a premium.
There was no scoring in the first period but the Hawks got on the board in the second with a goal from Josh Lester, with Austen Flaman and Jake Tremblay assisting at 1:06.
There was also some rough stuff in the second as Quintin Loon-Stewardson got roughing and slashing penalties in a mixup with Gage Missey, who took only a roughing penalty.
In the third, the North Stars tied it on a goal by Braydon Buziak at the 9:40 mark, Brett Gammer and MacGregor Sinclair assisting.
The winning goal came at the 1:59 mark of overtime. Quinton Loon-Stewardson got an assist from Elijah Loon-Stewardson as well as Cody Spagrud on the goal.
There were lots of heroes on the night. In addition to Loon-Stewardson and Buziak, one unsung hero identified by Klimosko was Owen Lamb who he said “blocked some big shots, he backchecked hard.”
Chad Duran got the win in net for the North Stars, stopping 27 of 28.
“He played solid for us, you know, he held us in there. That’s what we need when ‘Grz’ can’t play, we need a guy that can stop it just as well and he did it here tonight.”
The North Stars now enjoy 12 days off until Dec. 28, when they resume play in Kindersley against the Klippers. The North Stars’ next home action is Dec. 29, also against Kindersley.
