After almost letting a three-goal lead slip away in Humboldt two nights earlier, the Battlefords North Stars had a much stronger outing at home Friday.
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League pacesetters are now 23-6-0-0 for the season after they defeated the Notre Dame Hounds by a score of 4-2 at the Civic Centre.
“I think we played a lot better tonight,” North Stars forward Ben Allen said. “We did allow them to get that one goal in the third period shortly after we scored, which we shouldn’t have let happened, but we did a great job after that of shutting them down and playing well in the defensive zone.
“Once we got the lead, our biggest focus was with how we were playing on defence. We wanted to get pucks out of danger and limit our turnovers, and we can win any game when we do that.”
Allen led the way for the North Stars on offence with two goals, as he redirected point shots from defencemen Kendall Fransoo and Levi Kleiboer.
“The first goal came off a face-off and I just found an open area on the ice,” Allen, who now has nine goals for the season, said. “I made sure that Kendall was able to see me before he let the shot go.
“On the second goal, I just wanted to get to the front of the net, as that’s what’s been working for me throughout the season.”
Fransoo had a goal and an assist in the win, as he scored on a point shot just 17 seconds after Allen found the back of the net in the first period.
Coby Downs also had a goal and an assist while his linemate Layne Young dished out two helpers.
Joel Gryzbowski made 23 saves to earn the win for the North Stars, who remain in first place in the Finning Division.
Although the Hounds were without the services of dynamic rookie forward Adam Dawe, the SJHL’s leading scorer was up to his usual tricks on Friday.
Ben Duperreault scored in the second period and had an assist in the final frame on Brandon Sookro’s marker to put him at 43 points in 26 games this year, but it wasn’t enough to knock off the top team in the league.
“It’s hard to play catch up against a team like that,” Hounds head coach Clint Mylymok said.
“Their defence is their strength, and three of their goals tonight came from getting pucks through from the point. We didn’t do a good enough job of taking away those shots.”
Jordan Greenfield-Flemon stopped 31 shots in the loss for the Hounds, who are in third place in the Finning Division with a 13-9-3-1 record.
The North Stars will now have a week off before they return to action Friday night, as they will travel to Humboldt to face the Broncos.
“The biggest thing that we will be working on this week is our defensive zone play,” Allen said.
“We can’t allow the other team to get those late goals and give them life when we should be controlling the game.”
The Broncos are currently mired in a five-game losing streak and are 15 points back of the North Stars in the Finning Division.
