The Battlefords North Stars entered this weekend’s southeast road swing needing a sweep to keep alive any realistic hopes of winning the division.
They got it.
After wins over Weyburn, Estevan and Notre Dame, two of them by shootout, the North Stars now sit one point back of Kindersley in the division and two ahead of Humboldt, with three games remaining in the regular season. Those games are entirely against divisional opponents: Notre Dame at home Friday, in Humboldt Saturday and then home to Kindersley on Tuesday.
The North Stars' destiny is now entirely in their own hands. If they win the next three games, they are Global Ag Risk Futures division champions regardless of what the other teams do. One loss, though, could be enough to cost the North Stars home ice advantage in the quarter-finals. That is how tight things are in the SJHL in the final days.
North Stars 5 Weyburn 1
The Battlefords North Stars dealt a blow to the Weyburn Red Wings playoff chances with a 5-1 shellacking Friday.
Macgregor Sinclair started things off with his 26th of the season at the 7:06 mark of the first period, with Ryan Granville and Owen Lamb assisting.
In the second, Lamb scored from Sinclair and Braydon Buziak just 16 seconds in, and then Ryan Gil scored on the power play from Elijah Loon-Stewardson and Seth Summers at 7:25. William Cruise got the lone goal for Weyburn at the 9:47 mark of the second.
The third period saw Brett Gammer extend the lead to 4-1 with Dylan Esau and Austin Becker assisting. Becker’s empty netter completed the scoring.
Adam Dmyterko got the win for the North Stars, stopping 21 of 22 shots. The North Stars outshot the Red Wings 33-22.
North Stars 3 Estevan 2 (SO)
Next up was a contest with the division-leading Estevan Bruins, a game that almost got away from the North Stars.
The North Stars took the lead on Becker’s goal at 2:51 of the second period, but Jayden Davis scored shorthanded for Estevan at the 4:52 mark. Eddie Gallagher made it 2-1 at the 17:12 mark.
That lead held up until late in the third period, when Ryan Gil’s goal tied the game at 2-2 with 33 seconds remaining.
Overtime solved nothing, and the game proceeded to a lengthy shootout session that lasted five rounds, with neither team able to get a shot past either the North Stars’ Joel Grzybowski or Estevan’s Tyler Szturm.
Finally, Owen Lamb’s shot got past Szturm and that was enough to give the North Stars the 3-2 shootout win. Shots favoured Estevan 34-29 on the night.
North Stars 6 Notre Dame 5 (SO)
It was another tight game for the North Stars in Wilcox the next night as they simply could not put the Notre Dame Hounds away.
Buziak opened the scoring at 3:45 of the first period and Sinclair made it 2-0 at the 12:18 mark on the power play.
But Marshall Wilton’s goal at 16:45 cut the margin to one heading into the first intermission.
In the second, Gammer scored on the power play from Buziak and Spagrud at the 1:57 mark to extend the lead to 3-1. But Joseph Santalucia scored two goals in a row, one at 4:47 and another at 10:17 to tie things up at 3-3.
The North Stars emerged with the lead through two periods thanks to Matthew Fletcher’s power play goal at the 13:05 mark, with Becker and Dayton Heino assisting.
In the third period, goals by Jarrett Penner and by Wilton again gave the Hounds a 5-4 lead. Fletcher’s second of the night from Becker and Noah Form tied things up at the 12:12 mark, and the game would go to overtime.
As was the case the night before, overtime solved nothing and the game went to a shootout. Once again, it was Owen Lamb’s shootout goal that made the difference. He beat Riley Kohonick in the Hounds net. Meanwhile, none of the three Hounds shooters could beat Grzybowski, and the North Stars had themselves a 6-5 shootout win.
The win gave the North Stars a record of 32-13-5-5 for 74 points, one point behind Kindersley whose record is 35-15-3-2. The North Stars had gone into that crucial game in Wilcox knowing Kindersley had beaten Humboldt 4-3 in regulation time earlier that day.
The North Stars were also tied with Melfort at 74 points and just two points back of Nipawin with 76 points in the overall league standings after Sunday’s action.
This means things are still not settled in the SJHL with just three games left to go. Division titles are still not wrapped up and the final Survivor Series playoff spot is not settled either between Melville and Weyburn.
The North Stars could yet finish anywhere between first and sixth in the overall league standings. At the very least, they have assured themselves of avoiding the first-round survivor series, as the Flin Flon Bombers can no longer catch the North Stars for sixth spot.
The North Stars are still in a position to catch Nipawin for first place in the entire league as they approach their final three games of the season.
Their next action is at the Civic Centre against Notre Dame on Friday beginning at 7:30 p.m.
