A three-goal deficit after 20 minutes on the road against the top team in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League might seem like a tough task to overcome.
That wasn’t the case for the Battlefords North Stars Tuesday night.
After falling behind 3-0 in the opening frame to the Nipawin Hawks, the North Stars clawed their way back to tie the game late in the third period before coming away with a 4-3 triumph in a shootout at the Centennial Arena.
“Nipawin came out and dominated in the first period,” North Stars head coach and general manager Brandon Heck said. “We were too busy looking for other players to make plays instead of doing the work ourselves.
“In the second period, we started to use the forecheck more and that turned the tide a little bit. We also got a big goal from Brad [Girard] at the end of the period, which was a big difference maker as it’s easier to come back when you are down by two goals going into the third instead of being down by three goals.”
Dakota Huebner brought the North Stars within a goal at the 6:36 mark of the third period and Girard tied the game up with 91 seconds left in regulation.
After overtime solved nothing, MacGregor Sinclair and Layne Young both scored in the shootout for the visitors, while Joel Grzybowski turned aside Josh McDougall and Michael Grant.
Grzybowski came into the contest at the start of the second period and stopped all 16 shots he faced, as the North Stars pulled Taryn Kotchorek after he allowed three goals on 11 shots.
“We know that Taryn is a capable goalie any given night, but we just needed a spark at that point in the game,” Heck said. “Joel came up with a number of big saves for us, especially in the shootout.”
Austin Mikesch and McDougall both scored for the Hawks, who received a 32-save performance from Jake Anthony.
The shootout loss for the Hawks ended their 10-game win streak, while the North Stars have now won their last five contests.
Prior to Tuesday’s game, the North Stars acquired forward Parker Smyth from the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Grande Prairie Storm in exchange for forward Jared Power, whose rights were acquired by the team last Friday from the AJHL’s Olds Grizzlys.
Smyth, a 19 year old from Red Deer, has 25 points in 34 games for the Storm this season and is the nephew of former NHL forward Ryan Smyth.
Before the North Stars head out on the road Friday for a pair of games against the Flin Flon Bombers at the Whitney Forum, Heck will be busy burning the phone lines today ahead of the CJHL and SJHL trade deadline.
“We plan to take a wait and see approach,” Heck said. “We have room to add one more player, but I really like the group that we have here.”
SJHL teams can trade with other teams in other Junior A leagues until 8 p.m. and can makes deals with each other until midnight.
