Last time these two carved the ice against one another it was Jack Burgart and the Weyburn Red Wings who bested the North Stars in a shootout, 3-2.
Tonight, however, sung an entirely different tune.
From the first period puck drop, the North Stars controlled the tempo of the game. The Battlefords capitalized on their special team opportunities all night long, scoring five power play goals on ten attempts, en route to a 7-0 victory.
Five minutes into the tilt it was Jake McMillen who put the North Stars on the board, scoring his 16th of the season on the man advantage. Layne Young and Igor Leonenko, who accompany McMillen in the top 10 of the SJHL for points, had the helpers.
Leonenko wasn’t satisfied with just one assist, though. With 6:09 left in the first the Santa Cruz native snuck behind the defencemen and buried a breakaway goal over the glove of Jack Burgart, giving the North Stars a 2-0 lead. Connor Sych added fuel to the fire with a one-time blast off of a McMillen feed, giving the Battlefords a three goal advantage.
Sych was the catalyst early in the second after assisting Colby Downs on his 10th goal of the season.
Tensions would later boil over after the big defenceman completed the Gordie Howe hat trick, dropping the gloves with Weyburns’ Cole Woodliffe.
Downs’ mark would end the night for Burgart, who let in four goals on 14 shots. Carter Phair came in to relieve him of his duties, but the Battlefords didn't go easy on him.
Two more tallies came his way, Ryan Rosenberg tickled the twine for his first career goal with a nice wrist shot from the point lifting it glove side. Igor Leonenko tipped in his second of the game with under four minutes left, breaking the tilt wide open.
Tanner Nagel made it seven unanswered goals before the second period buzzer sounded, getting a stick on a Kendall Fransoo point shot.
Goaltender Taryn Kotchorek continued his success, coming up with several big stops on odd man rushes, limiting any kind of daylight for Weyburn, and coming away with a 26 save shutout.
“He made the saves that we needed him to make and our team played well in front of him," Head Coach Kevin Hasselberg said of his young netminder, “he’s square to the puck and we’re very happy with how he’s played this season.”
The North Stars penalty kill was just as effective as their power play tonight, killing five of five man advantages from Weyburn.
There was 151 total penalty minutes between the two clubs, with seven game misconducts being dished out.
The Battlefords have now begun a two game win streak and look to extend it to three as they travel to Estevan tomorrow to take on the Bruins.
News-Optimist THREE STARS
1) Taryn Kotchorek - 26/26 SVs 0.00 GAA
2) Igor Leonenko - 2 G 1 A
3) Jake McMillen - 1 G 2 A
