The Battlefords North Stars did what they needed to do Thursday afternoon.
Now they have to play the waiting game to see if they will qualify for the playoffs at the Western Canada Cup in Penticton, B.C. Saturday.
Thanks to a 3-0 win over the Chilliwack Chiefs of the British Columbia Hockey League, the North Stars earned their first win of the tournament and now sit in third place in the standings with a 1-2-1 record and four points.
They will clinch a spot in Saturday’s 3 vs. 4 playoff game if either the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (1-2) or the tournament host Penticton Vees (1-1-1) lose in regulation time in their head-to-head matchup tonight, as those two teams are currently tied for fourth place with three points.
That contest takes place at 8 p.m. Saskatchewan time at the South Okanagan Event Centre.
“It’s a little frustrating that things are out of our hands, but we did it to ourselves,” North Stars head coach and general manager Nate Bedford said. “If we played better earlier in the tournament, then our fate would be in our hands.
“When you take shortcuts out there, you lose that opportunity. So in that sense it’s kind of fitting that we have to end up waiting to see what happens. In the future, if we have another chance to come to a tournament like this, we’ll have definitely learned something from what happened this week.”
Heading into Thursday’s game, Bedford was hoping to see a much more desperate effort from his team with the season on the line and his squad certainly responded to that challenge.
“We had a bunch of guys that didn’t want to lose and they were giving everything that they could out there,” Bedford said.
“We got some guys that are under the weather and aren’t feeling very well, but they weren’t making excuses. It was a good team effort and everyone contributed in some way.”
After being held to just one assist in the first three games of the tournament, North Stars forward Layne Young came up huge for his team in a must-win situation.
He got the offence going by tipping home a point shot from Cody Spagrud late in the opening frame and he rounded things out with an empty-net goal to seal the victory in the with 39 seconds to go.
Young also generated a number of scoring chances throughout the afternoon with his linemates Ben Allen and Coby Downs.
“I thought they really needed to show up today,” Bedford said. “We were pretty hard on them yesterday about being able to produce, and all three of them really stepped up.”
The other goal for the North Stars came late in the final frame, as Keaton Holinaty fired a long-range wrist shot into the back of the net for his third goal in as many games.
“It was a little nerve-wracking there before that as we trying to hold on to a one-goal lead,” Bedford said.
“For whatever reason, Keaton loves scoring in the playoffs. It was a great goal and one that was very deserving with how well he’s played for us.”
Joel Grzybowski had another strong performance in goal for the North Stars, as he turned aside 22 shots for his first shutout since a 6-0 road win over the Kindersley Klippers on March 3.
“I thought he controlled the game really well,” Bedford said. “He puts the puck in the right spot and you always feel like he’s going to have a chance to make the save with his competitiveness.”
The Chiefs, who finished the round-robin with a 2-2 record, were already assured of a spot in Saturday’s championship game against the 4-0 Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League and elected to res some of their key players.
One of the additions to the lineup almost proved to be the North Stars undoing, as 17-year-old backup goaltender Mathieu Caron made 23 saves and frustrated his opponents on multiple occasions in his first start of the tournament.
“I thought he was great and they had a couple of other younger guys (forwards Matthew Konrad and Matthias Urbanski) who were excellent as well,” Bedford said.
“We had lots of scoring chances but he didn’t give us a chance to put the puck in the back of the net.”
