The Battlefords North Stars came away with two points Wednesday night following a 5-3 road win over the Humboldt Broncos.
However, head coach and general manager Nate Bedford was left shaking his head after the North Stars almost let a 4-1 lead slip away in the final minutes of the third period.
“I don’t know if we could have made it any easier for Humboldt to get to the net, unless we created some directional signs to show them exactly where the net was,” Bedford said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team help guys get to the net like we did. We weren’t getting in their way, and we allowed them to waltz right into our zone. We weren’t physical in the third period and it wasn’t a good finish to the game at all.”
The Broncos cut down the North Stars three-goal lead thanks to two quick shots from from Chris Van Os-Shaw, and they had a chance to tie things up on the power play with nearly three minutes to go when Coby Downs was sent to the penalty box for spearing.
MacGregor Sinclair came up huge for the visitors on the penalty kill, as he scored a shorthanded goal to end any chance of a Broncos comeback.
“It was a really aggressive play out of the blueline,” Bedford said. “We had (Layne) Young and Sinclair out there on the penalty kill, and they are two guys that are good to have out there in those situations.
“They got the puck out of danger and they were able to convert on a two-on-one rush, which was obviously huge for us.”
Through the first two periods, it looked as if the North Stars had shaken off any lingering effects from Saturday’s wild 8-6 loss to the Estevan Bruins at the Civic Centre, as they had limited the Broncos to just 11 shots on goal.
“I thought we were playing really well,” Bedford said. “We were playing as a team, sticking to our game plan and playing a pretty good road game before things fell apart in the third.
“Don’t get me wrong, Humboldt had a really good push back in the third period, but we have to match what they are doing out there and we certainly didn’t do that tonight.”
Young led the way on offence with three assists, while Downs and Cody Spragud had a goal and an assist each.
Reed Delainey dished out two helpers in the victory with the other North Stars goals coming off of the sticks of Ben Allen and Logan Nachtegaele.
Taryn Kotchorek made 25 saves to earn his 12th win of the season.
Van Os-Shaw’s two goals helped to pace the home side on offence, while Erik Gardiner had a goal and an assist.
Garrett Mason turned aside 38 shots in the loss for the Broncos, who are 15-10-0-1 on the season and haven’t defeated the North Stars since Jan. 28, 2015.
Next up for the North Stars, who remain in first place in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with a 22-6-0-0 record and are now 13 points ahead of the Broncos in the Finning Division, is a 7:30 p.m. contest with the Notre Dame Hounds at the Civic Centre Friday night.
“We’ve allowed 11 goals in our last two games so I’m hoping that we’ll be more defensively sound against the Hounds,” Bedford said.
“They are a high scoring team with the leading scorer in the league (Ben Duperreault) on their roster, so they’ll be looking to get goals in every which way. I’m interested to see how our guys respond to that.”
The Hounds, who are coming off a 7-2 road win over the Melfort Mustangs Wednesday, are just a point behind the Broncos for second in the Finning Division and fourth in the overall league standings.
