The Battlefords North Stars knew they were in for a good test against a strong, first-place Weyburn Red Wings team to begin their southeast road trip.
It turned out to be too good a test, as the North Stars laid an egg in the first two periods, and ended up losing by two goals in a battle of division leaders.
Weyburn 5 North Stars 3
The Red Wings got two goals in the first period from Chris Van Os-Shaw at 4:55 and then from Braden Mellon at 14:46 to make it 2-0 through one. Shots were 7-7 after one.
The second period saw more of the same. Jacob Wozney at the 9:55 mark made it 3-0 and then Aiden Tellborg at 14:46, from Mellon and Drake Glover, beat Ryan Rewerts to make it 4-0.
At that point Kevin Hasselberg had seen enough and Rewerts was sent to the bench after stopping just 10 of 14. Taryn Kotchorek replaced him the rest of the game.
The North Stars had actually outshot Weyburn in the second period 12-9, but were down four goals heading into the third. Fortunately for the North Stars they did mount a comeback and made things interesting.
Layne Young got his ninth goal from Igor Leonenko and Reed Delainey at 1:58 of the third to put the North Stars on the board. Then at the 6:58 mark Dustin Gorgi got his ninth goal on the power play, with Josh Cronin off for boarding. Troy Gerein assisted.
Coby Downs then got his ninth from Gorgi and Connor Sych at the 14:39 mark to make it 4-3. As the game wound down Kotchorek was pulled for the extra attacker, and that gave Wozney his opportunity to score into an empty net with 14 seconds left to make the final 5-3.
Jack Burgart stopped 28 of 31 shots for the win for Weyburn. Kotchorek ended up stopping 10 of 10 as the North Stars faced 25 shots in total on the night.
Estevan 3 North Stars 1
The North Stars were back at it on Halloween night against another Viterra Division team, the Estevan Bruins at Affinity Place.
Ryan Rewerts was back in net hoping to rebound from the previous night's performance, and as it turned out it was a goaltenders' first period as neither team got on the board. Shots favoured Estevan 7-5; the North Stars also were able to kill off penalties to Connor Sych and Connor Jensen in the period.
The game stayed scoreless, but Estevan forced Rewerts to make one save after another. Finally, Keegan Allison's shot eluded Rewerts and the Bruins finally had the lead in the second period. Jason Duret and Darcy DeRoose assisted.
That was all the scoring in the second. The other highlight of the period was the scrap in which Troy Gerein dropped the gloves in defence of captain Kendall Fransoo against Zach Gobaris with major fighting and game misconduct penalties, while Zach Goberis took roughing penalties. That gave Estevan a power play, but the North Stars managed to kill it off.
Still, it all contributed to an 11-5 Estevan shots advantage for an overwhelming 18-10 overall shots through two.
The third period did not start well for the North Stars as Kaelan Holt scored just 41 seconds into the frame to make it 2-0.
Still, the North Stars had their chances, hitting the post on one chance and then seeing Reed Delainey robbed late by Bruins netminder Nathan Alalouf.
Jake McMillen finally put the North Stars on the board at 17:14 from Kendall Fransoo, ending the shutout bid of Alalouf. But with Rewerts pulled for the extra attacker, DeRoose found the empty net with 1:35 left, and the North Stars had lost their third straight.
On the bright side the North Stars went 5 for 5 in the penalty kill. But shots favoured Estevan 28-24.
Despite some bright spots, including the bounce-back performance of Rewerts, a displeased coach Kevin Hasselberg told Craig Beauchemin on CJNB radio that "we got exactly what we deserved." It was back to the drawing board for the third game of the road trip, in Wilcox.
North Stars 4 Notre Dame 1
For the first time all weekend, the North Stars were able to get on the scoreboard first in their game with Notre Dame Hounds.
With Gavin Apperson off for tripping, Jake McMillen scored his 13th of the season from Spagrud and Leonenko at 10:25 of the first period to make it 1-0.
Reed Delainey added to the lead with his sixth of the season at 3:41 of the second period, with Leonenko getting his second assist of the contest. Once again, it was a power play goal.
Then at the 9:40 mark, Logan Nachtegaele got his first of the season, with Rylan Freed assisting to make it 3-0. Shots on goal overwhelmingly favoured the North Stars in the second 13-4, due mainly to power play chances in the period.
The North Stars maintained the lead throughout the third period, with the Hounds unable to get their offence going.
Taryn Kotchorek started in net for the North Stars and had a shutout going deep into the third period. But that bid was snapped by Tyler Podgorenko on the power play with 6:16 remaining to make it 3-1.
With a two goal deficit late, the Hounds were forced to pull their goaltender. Braydon Buziak got the empty netter with 2:07 left in the game, wrapping up a 4-1 win to snap a three-game losing streak. Kotchorek got the win on what was a 30-save night for him in net.
The North Stars are back home again Thursday night to Weyburn. Game time is 7:30 at the Civic Centre.
