The Battlefords North Stars returned to the win column Tuesday night on home ice.
However, despite coming away with a 4-2 triumph over the basement-dwelling La Ronge Ice Wolves, the way the game played out was not to the approval of the players and North Stars general manager and head coach Brandon Heck.
“A win is always good but we aren’t playing anywhere close to our capabilities,” Heck said. “I was hoping that loss to Melville on Saturday would turn out to be a positive, and it still might be going forward, but we made a lot of mistakes tonight on the little things that we can’t have going forward.”
“We grinded one out against a team we should have had more goals against,” North Stars defenceman Garan Magnes added. “It’s pretty self-explanatory.”
Although the North Stars only allowed the Ice Wolves to have three power play chances, a late roughing penalty by Keith Anderson that later saw him tossed from the game after a fight with Nolan Dawson left Heck fuming.
“It’s a stupid penalty with five minutes to go and we can’t have that, especially from a 20-year-old,” Heck said. “It could have become a one-goal game really quickly, especially after La Ronge scored a couple of goals to close in.”
The hosts had a 4-0 lead through the third period, but two quick goals by Connor Smith and Matthew Perkins allowed the Ice Wolves to close in and make things interesting.
“We still need to be better on defence,” Magnes said. “We need to do a better job getting the puck, finding guys that are open and getting the puck out quickly.”
While he wasn’t pleased about his team’s overall play in their own end, Magnes turned in a strong showing on offence with a goal and two assists to give him 12 points in 11 games with the North Stars after putting up nine points in 27 contests with the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Spruce Grove Saints.
“I think more ice time has helped me out with getting more chances offensively,” Magnes said. “It’s allowed me to create more plays and I have a lot of chemistry already with these guys.”
“Garan’s got a rocket of a shot and when he and Levi [Kleiboer] work well with each other they a pretty darn good pairing,” Heck said. “They both like to move the puck into the offensive end though, so they’ll need to work together to grow that way.”
Layne Young had two goals and an assist in the victory, as the North Stars captain now leads the SJHL in goals with 30 and has increased his league-best point total to 89.
Brad Girard scored a power-play goal in the third period and goaltender Taryn Kotchorek made 23 saves.
Merek Pipes turned aside 31 shots for the 8-35-0-3 Ice Wolves, who have lost their last seven games and are 15 points back of the Melville Millionaires for the 10th and final playoff spot in the league.
With Tuesday’s win, the North Stars now have a 35-9-2-0 record and have a 13-point lead over the Humboldt Broncos for the top spot in the Global Ag Risk Solutions Division.
In addition to having two games in hand over their divisional rivals, the North Stars also have a pair of games in hand over the league-leading Nipawin Hawks, who are eight points ahead of them in the standings and haven’t lost a game in regulation since Nov., 10 2016.
The North Stars will now play three home games in as many nights starting Thursday against the Weyburn Red Wings.
The Ice Wolves will return to the Civic Centre Friday for Pink in the Rink Night and the Notre Dame Hounds will pay a visit to North Battleford Saturday.
All three contests will begin at 7:30 p.m.
