After a stop-start schedule to open up their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League title defence, the Battlefords North Stars got back into the swing of things in a big way Friday at the Civic Centre.
On a night where they donned retro uniforms dating back to the early days of the franchise, Layne Young’s overtime goal gave the North Stars a 3-2 win over the Melfort Mustangs, who are currently the leaders the 12-team loop.
“We knew going in that they are a really good team and Coach [Brandon Heck] told us that this was going to be a physical battle,” Young said afterwards.
“We came out and executed that style of play really well. We had our feet moving and we were relentless on pucks. We did all the little things right tonight.”
Young’s overtime winner, which came on a shot down the left wing that slid through the five-hole of Mustangs goaltender Evan Plotnik, came moments after the North Stars had three chances to end the game earlier.
Keith Anderson was turned aside on two straight breakaway chances, while Conor Jensen was able to beat Plotnik but saw his shot ring off of the post.
“After Keith came down and deked twice on him so I figured that he might be expecting that again,” Young said. “I looked up and his five-hole was open, so I just put it there.”
Young, who is third in league scoring with 20 points and has the best points per game average in the SJHL at 2.50, also had an assist on MacGregor Sinclair’s third period power play goal.
Josh Sielsky also scored in the win, the fifth in a row for the 7-0-1 North Stars, while Kleiboer finished the evening with two helpers.
With veteran North Stars netminder Taryn Kotchorek sidelined for the next couple of weeks due to an injury, rookie Kolby Matthews got the start in goal for the second straight game and made 26 saves.
“I’m just focusing on playing my game and hopefully I’ll get a chance to carry the load here for a bit if I continued to play well,” Matthews said.
“The guys have been great in blocking shots and clearing out loose pucks. This is easily the best defensive core that I’ve ever played behind.”
Although he hasn’t played enough minutes to qualify among the league leaders in goal, Matthews has posted a 3-0 record with a 1.97 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.
“He’s been spectacular so far,” Young said. “He’s done everything that we’ve asked of him and he’s been lights out for us every time out.”
The Mustangs, who have a league best 10-1-2-1 record but have dropped four of their last six contests after starting the year with eight wins in a row, got their goals from Andrew Thompson and Colin Schmidt.
“I thought we played pretty well after a tough start where we took a few too many penalties,” Mustangs head coach and general manager Trevor Blevins said.
“We had some great goaltending to bail us out of a few defensive breakdowns but our effort was still good. We just need to be a little bit hungrier around the net when we get those scoring chances.”
The North Stars will be back in action at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Civic Centre as they’ll play the Flin Flon Bombers for the first time since last year’s Canalta Cup Final.
The Bombers, who have a 5-6-0-3 record, are coming off a 5-2 road defeat to the La Ronge Ice Wolves Friday night and have lost their last six games.
