Despite losing Saturday night, the Battlefords North Stars made a strong first impression in their opening contest at the Western Canada Cup in Penticton, B.C.
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League champions went the distance and then some with the tournament host and British Columbia Hockey League title holder Penticton Vees at the South Okanagan Event Centre as a goal from Chris Klack with 4:28 left in overtime gave the Vees a 2-1 triumph.
It also brought an end to a 15-game winning streak for the North Stars, as their last loss came on Feb. 24 in a 3-1 road setback to the Nipawin Hawks.
“I think we started off fairly well and I felt like we had a really good opening 10 minutes,” North Stars head coach and general manager Nate Bedford said. “As the game went on though, I felt like their speed intimated us a little bit and we didn’t do a good enough job of putting the puck in tough areas.
“When you spend most of the game chasing down the other team, it’s hard to get any momentum going. If we have the chance to play the Vees again, I think you’ll see more of a complete performance from us.”
As the North Stars were working down low just past the halfway mark of the overtime period, which lasts 10 minutes at the Western Canada Cup and features four-on-four play, the Vees were able to take control of the puck as Nicholas Jones raced down the ice on a three-on-one rush.
Jones was turned aside by goaltender Joel Grzybowski, but Klack was able to rush in and slide the loose puck into the net to send Vees fans into a frenzy.
Grzybowski’s play was a huge reason why the game went to overtime, as he made a number of fantastic saves in the third period as the Vees were pressing to score the go-ahead goal.
“Joel was playing the puck really well for us tonight,” Bedford said. “Any netminder that can do that with confidence always helps you out, and he was able to build off of that with a number of big stops.”
The only other blemish in Grzybowski’s 36-save performance came on an early third period power-play blast from the point by Gabe Bast, which was setup by a great feed from Jones.
The North Stars broke open a scoreless contest with 62 seconds to go in the second period during a four-on-four situation, as Reed Delainey raced down the ice and fed the puck to his linemate Connor Logan.
That was the only shot that got by Vees netminder Mathew Robson as he made 24 saves to earn the win.
Despite the setback, the North Stars did earn a point in the overtime loss and will look to bounce back tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. Saskatchewan time when they’ll play the Portage Terriers, in what will be the first game for the Manitoba Junior Hockey League champions at the tournament.
“If we can come out and play like we did in the opening 10 minutes, I think we’ll have a good performance against them,” Bedford said.”
The Western Canada Cup officially got underway Saturday afternoon as the Alberta Junior Hockey League champion Brooks Bandits cruised to a 5-2 win over the Chilliwack Chiefs of the BCHL, who lost to the Vees in the league final.
The Bandits earned a full three points with the regulation win and are on top of the five-team field as the Vees only earned two points for their overtime triumph
Parker Foo led the way on offence as he scored a goal and two assists, while Arnaud Vachon had a goal and an assist.
Josh McKechney, Nick Prkusic and Cale Makar also scored in the triumph, which saw goaltender Mitchel Benson make 24 saves.
Jordan Kawaguchi had two assists in the loss for the Chiefs, who got goals from Anthony Vincent and Connor McCarthy.
Despite getting pulled in the third period, goaltender Mark Sinclair earned player of the game honours with a 29-save performance.
The Chiefs will be off Sunday while the Bandits will take on the Vees at 8 p.m. Saskatchewan time.
