The battle for the Rivalry Cup has proven pretty one-sided so far.
The Battlefords North Stars are now 0 for 4 against their division rival Kindersley Klippers after a disappointing home-and-home series with them over the weekend.
Defeats by scores of 3-0 and 4-1 put a damper to what had up until then been a week of good news for the North Stars organization, coming off a three-game winning streak as well as news that player Blake Young had committed to Minnesota-Duluth of the NCAA.
The matchup in Kindersley's West Central Events Centre Thursday was the last one of a three-week long stint away from home for the North Stars.
The Klippers scored in each period of that game. Marc Dubeau's goal at the 2:53 mark of the first from Tristan Sieben and Brandon Lauder beat goaltender Casey Parker to make it 1-0.
In the second, the same line pounced again as Sieben scored from Lauder and Dubeau to make it 2-0.
In the third, with Blake Young in the penalty box for slashing, Eric Pouliot scored from Colby Daniels and Cody Thiel to round out the scoring in a 3-0 Klippers win, despite being outshot on the night by the North Stars 24-20.
The next night back at the North Battleford Civic Centre, not even all of the 738 fans were settled in their seats when the Klippers struck first. Colby Daniels scored from Giovanni Bombini at the 10-second mark, beating Darren Martin who got the call in net for the North Stars.
Then it was Bombini from Thiel and Daniels at the 1:25 mark, and suddenly it was 2-0 Klippers just barely into the game.
Austin Yano's goal from Connon Garden at the 6:23 mark made it a 3-0 hole for the North Stars in the second period. However, the North Stars played considerably better after that as they outshot the Klippers 17-9 and 15-7 in the final two periods.
But penalties that resulted in eight Kindersley power plays, as well as a controversial no-goal call on what appeared to be the first North Stars goal of the night in the second period proved to be their undoing. Nick Fountain thought he had scored the goal but officials said the whistle had blown, and the score stood at 3-0.
Also hurting the cause was the loss of Ryne Keller, who got a game misconduct for a check from behind call in the second period. In all the North Stars got 10 penalties on the night compared to three for the Klippers.
In the third, Fountain scored from Young and McColgan at 7:06 to make it 3-1, but with the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker with more than two minutes left on the clock, the Klippers' Sean Naish fired home the empty-netter with 1:13 remaining for a 4-1 final score.
Tyrrell King proved to be a brick wall in net for the Klippers, stopping all but one of the North Stars' 39 shots. The Klippers fired 28 at the North Stars' net.
Despite dominating the shots-on-goal in the latter part of the game, North Stars coach Kevin Hasselberg noted his team just couldn't come back from the two early goals.
"We got ourselves behind the eight ball right off the bat, and Kindersley right now is playing with a lot of confidence and Tyrrell King is a great goalie," said Hasselberg. "So for us to come back being down that early is a steep hill to climb."
Hasselberg also felt the team was hurt by some questionable officiating. "The officiating wasn't on our side tonight. We didn't get some calls and they got some calls that were embellished." Still, Hasselberg pointed to good penalty killing by the team, which has proven to be an early strength of the team this season.
The loss dropped the North Stars to 0-3 at home for the season - a fact not lost on Hasselberg.
"Unfortunately at this point in time, we haven't shown our fans at home what we are capable of doing," said the coach. "At some point in time they're going to expect more."
The North Stars were back on the road again the next day, playing their third game in three nights Sunday against the Humboldt Broncos. It was much of the same for the North Stars as they lost again, this time 4-3.
