The last three contests for the Battlefords North Stars gave new meaning to the term "hard-fought."
That was certainly true against the Yorkton Terriers Friday night, a wild, fight-filled affair. Fists were flying, but on the flip side, not many goals were flying into the net.
A third-period marker by Otto Mitchell proved the difference, as the North Stars finally prevailed 2-1 over the reigning RBC Cup champs.
The next night the North Stars hit the road again for La Ronge and beat the Ice Wolves 6-5 in another shootout game.
Along with the thrilling 4-3 win on the road against the Melfort Mustangs in a shootout last Wednesday, it extended the North Stars winning streak to three and kept them competitive in what has proved to be an extremely tight Kramer Division this season.
Power play opportunities - and both teams' failures to take advantage of them - proved a story in the early going Friday night.
Yorkton went on the man advantage with the North Stars' Matthew Havens in the box for hooking midway through the period.
But the Terriers failed to capitalize. Instead, just nine seconds into the power play, the North Stars struck first on a short handed goal as Reid Delainey scored from Jake Erickson and Ryne Keller at 11:08, giving them the early lead.
Fisticuffs erupted late in the period with 1:27 remaining as Brenden Heinrich of the North Stars and Dallas Rossiter of the Terriers went off for roughing. The teams were on a 4-on-4 situation to finish the first period and the Terriers took full advantage.
With 48.5 seconds remaining, Riley Hunt of the Terriers fired one past netminder Ryan Rewerts. The period ended with the two teams at 1-1. Shots in the frame favoured Yorkton only slightly, 11-10.
The tension seen among players in the first period boiled over early in period two as a major scrap erupted involving both teams.
Three separate fights ensued on the ice involving Nick Fountain and Joshua Ellis, Kendall Fransoo and Dylan Johnson, and Jake Calverley and Daylan Gatzke.
The end result of the multitude of penalties assessed was the North Stars wound up on the power play for two minutes.
Both Fountain and Fransoo were suspended for the next two games due to their 20-minute second-fight penalties assessed, and even coach Kevin Hasselberg was suspended for the next game.
"Nothing was orchestrated, it was just two teams going toe to toe," said Hasselberg. "At that moment you've just got to trust the instincts of your players."
A slashing penalty soon after to Kurt Johnas at 3:20 gave the North Stars a brief 5-on-3 power play. But the North Stars couldn't get their power play going, and the Terriers successfully killed off the two-man advantage.
After two periods it remained 1-1. North Stars led in shots on goal 22 to 18.
Play went briskly in the third period as shots, and goals, proved to be at a premium. But the North Stars finally caught the break they needed.
Jake Erickson set up Mitchell for his first goal in Junior A, and he fired it home at the 10:30 mark to give the North Stars the lead.
It was an exciting moment for Mitchell, in only his second game with the team.
"What a way to get welcomed in to the dressing room, welcomed into the environment when you're contributing in those manners," said Hasselberg after the game.
But then another major fight erupted soon after with 7:57 left, after a North Stars player was decked behind the Yorkton goal.
That set off Heinrich in response, and another major brawl ensured. Heinrich was assessed two minutes for instigating, a five-minute major for fighting and a game misconduct, while Dylan Baer got two minutes for roughing.
No one scored on the power play, again, however, and with time running down Yorkton pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker. Rewerts had to make two late saves for the North Stars to preserve a well-deserved 2-1 win.
Final shots on goal were 31-25 for the North Stars.
Mitchell, Rewerts and Delainey were the three stars, in that order.
Overall, coach Hasselberg was pleased with the effort and emotion shown by his team.
"There was a lot of team building in that hockey game," said Hasselberg.
"Yorkton plays a tough style of hockey so it's anticipated that you're going to get into some scrums and stuff. But hey, it's an opportunity for guys to bond and those are bonding moments."
Hasselberg also noted the team continued to find ways to win.
"This team finds those ways to win close games. And we're not losing confidence if we don't win the close ones either."
The team would need that confidence against La Ronge, where they racked up a 5-2 lead on the road before blowing that lead and almost the game.
Kevin Randall had scored the opening goal of the game for La Ronge, but Adam Smith scored from Michael Statchuk to tie the game after one.
Matt Saharchuk put the North Stars ahead in the second and later Jordan Townsend scored a power play marker to give the team a 3-1 lead. Caley Bjork's goal cut the margin to one heading into the third period.
In the third the North Stars extended the lead to 5-2 on goals by Troy Gerein (from Baxter Kanter) and Saharchuk again to make it 5-2.
But Kent Walchuk, Connor Kortko and finally Matt Painchaud erased the North Stars lead in short order, and the game would go to overtime.
The game went to a shootout session where McMillen and finally Saharchuk put the puck past Ice Wolves goaltender Kris Joyce.
Despite a ravaged lineup due to all the suspensions, and with Taurean White behind the bench instead of Hasselberg, the North Stars had themselves yet another hard-fought win. Once again, Rewerts got the win for the Battlefords, stopping 44 of 49 shots. The North Stars outshot the Ice Wolves 49-39 in the game.
The North Stars end the weekend with a record of 11-4-3 for 25 points, six behind Kindersley and one back of Notre Dame in the tough Kramer Division. The team now gets some much needed days off before they return to action at home Nov. 12 against another Kramer division rival, Humboldt.
