The Battlefords North Stars extended their win streak in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs to 14 games and now hold a 2-0 advantage over the Weyburn Red Wings in their best-of-seven quarter-final series.
However, Saturday’s 6-5 thriller at the Civic Centre was completely different from Friday’s 5-1 triumph to start off the post-season, let alone any of the encounters the North Stars and Red Wings have had in recent memory.
“We’re up 2-0 so it’s mission accomplished in that sense,” North Stars head coach and general manager Brandon Heck said. “There was one game this weekend where we played very well and one game that we played very average in.
“Last night we played to make our linemates better and tonight we were playing for ourselves out there.”
Another sticking point for Heck from Saturday’s contest was the North Stars special teams play, as they failed to score on five power play chances and allowed the Red Wings to score three times on eight opportunities with an extra attacker.
“The discipline is the number one thing I would like to see improved upon,” Heck said.
“We had some good power plays tonight and some not so good ones, but we were able to overcome that with some momentum swings.”
One of the plays that helped keep things in the North Stars favour came just nine seconds into a penalty kill for a Garan Manges’ double minor for high sticking near the midway point of the second period, as Layne Young scored a shorthanded goal to give the hosts a 4-3 lead.
“There’s a commitment and relentlessness from us when things aren’t going our way,” North Stars forward Keith Anderson said.
“We’re all trying our best to stick with it out there and to be able to come up with plays like that was a huge part of tonight’s win.”
Young and MacGregor Sinclair paced the North Stars offence with a goal and two assists each, while blueliner Connor Manegre had a pair of helpers.
Chaseton Braid, Brad Girard, Magnes and Anderson also scored for the defending Canalta Cup champions, who received a 19-save performance from Joel Grzybowski.
Although Red Wings head coach Wes Rudy was pleased with his squad’s effort in clawing their way back on multiple occasions, a couple of plays left him fuming after the game.
“We had a few power plays tonight, but there was a five-minute spear that went uncalled and there was a blatant kick to the chest of one of our guys when he was down that wasn’t called,” Rudy said. “If we had those power play opportunities, it may have been a different outcome.
“Overall though, it was a gutsy effort from top to bottom from our guys. Our young team showed a lot of heart and character tonight, which was nice to see.”
Tyran Brown and Cole Woodliffe had a goal and an assist each for the Red Wings, while Ben Hiltz and Landon Walters both had a pair of helpers.
The visitors also received goals from Mike Eskra, Cade Kowalski and Jordan Kazymyra to go along with 37 save showing from Arik Weersink.
The series will now shift to Crescent Point Place in Weyburn as the Red Wings will host the North Stars in the next two games of the series on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
A win by the Red Wings in either game would force a fifth contest Friday at the Civic Centre.
In the other SJHL quarter-final matchups, the Nipawin Hawks and Estevan Bruins now hold 2-0 series leads over the Flin Flon Bombers and Kindersley Klippers respectively after they won by scores of 3-1 and 3-2 Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Melfort Mustangs bounced back from a lopsided loss to the Humboldt Broncos Friday as they evened up their best-of-seven affair with a 6-3 win at the Northern Lights Palace.
All three matchups will resume Tuesday in Flin Flon, Humboldt and Kindersley.
