The Battlefords North Stars have drawn first blood against the Flin Flon Bombers to open their best-of-seven SJHL quarterfinal series.
They were up 3-0 in the series with a chance to clinch the series heading into game four Wednesday in Flin Flon.
The North Stars took the first two games of their series with the Bombers at home, winning 3-0 in the first game and then 2-1 in overtime in game two.
They did it despite being outshot both nights by Flin Flon, but veteran Joel Grzybowski shut the Bombers down in both games. Through two games, Grzybowski faced 80 total shots and stopped all but one of them.
Another hero was Kaden Boser, who scored goals in both North Stars victories including the winning goal in overtime in game two. He scored the first goal in game one and then got the overtime goal in game two for the win.
In all, game two was similar to game one: a grind.
“It was crazy, it was intense, it was everything that involves when you’re playing Flin Flon,” said Head Coach Brayden Klimosko.
The shots on goal situation was a concern, with the Bombers outshooting the North Stars 37-27 and then 43-35. But Klimosko noted many of the Flin Flon shots were not quality shots. He credited the North Stars with keeping the Bombers to the outside for the most part.
“It’s a good start. Obviously, we’re far from finished,” said Klimosko,
Game three was a similar grind. It took overtime before Braydon Buziak put home a goal 43 seconds into the extra frame to lift the North Stars to a 3-2 win, and a 3-0 series lead.
Should they not finish off the Bombers on Wednesday, the North Stars would be back home for game five at the Civic Centre Friday.
North Stars 3 Bombers 0
Game one was dominated by the play of Grzybowski, who stopped all 37 shots fired at him on a night when the North Stars were outshot 37-27.
The North Stars got goals from Kaden Boser in the first, Elijah Loon-Stewardson in the second and then Quintin Loon-Stewardson in the third to secure the win.
There was one scary moment for Grzybowski in the second period as he lay on the ice for some time following a particularly spawling save. That forced the trainers to come out onto the ice to tend to Grzybowski, but it turned out he was okay.
One incident marred the contest: the North Stars’ Austin Shumanski was tossed from the game for a major blow to the head penalty to a Bombers player, resulting in his suspension from game two.
North Stars 2 Flin Flon 1 (OT)
Game two was notable as the first game back for Matthias Urbanski, who had been out for weeks with an upper body injury.
Once more, it was another great playoff performance from Boser, who scored the power play overtime goal that lifted the North Stars to a 2-1 overtime win Saturday.
The goal came with the Bombers’ Calvon Boots in the box for four minutes for high sticking in overtime.
But the main story was another standout performance for Grzybowski, who stood on his head in a game where the North Stars were again outshot, 43-35.
Through seven periods of hockey at the Civic Centre, Grzybowski allowed only one goal. That came in the second period when Caleb Franklin broke what was shaping up to be a five-period shutout streak for Grzybowski.
Franklin’s goal tied the game after Braydon Buziak had put the North Stars in front at 7:58 of the first period. The game stayed 1-1 until Boser ended it in overtime.
The game was a chippy affair with lots of penalties, and undisciplined play proved to be the Bombers’ undoing as Boots’ overtime penalty was his third one of the contest.
The game also ended in controversy. After the winning goal, a photo made the rounds calling out the Bombers for tossing a cooler of Gatorade face-down onto the Civic Centre ice surface, creating a mess for crews to clean up.
The Bombers’ fired back at the North Stars on their Twitter feed.
“What’s embarrassing is Battleford fans spitting and throwing tape, garbage and cups in our Gatorade jug while we’re playing. Where’s the security?”
The North Stars responded that “our tunnel was clear and security stood behind FF’s back up goalie large part of the night – we can win with class on the ice! Let’s Go Stars!”
This transpired on a night when the league’s president was in the house. Earlier, Bill Chow had presented the division and league’s Top Defenceman honours, as well as divisional Player of the Year honours, to North Stars captain Cody Spagrud prior to faceoff.
North Stars 3 Flin Flon 2 (OT)
It was another rough, tough outing for the North Stars in game three in Flin Flon, and this time they needed to come from behind.
The Bombers took their first lead in the entire series late in the first period on a goal by Vincent Nardone. But the North Stars tied it 1:26 into period two on Matthew Fletcher’s goal from Austin Becker.
Noah Form gave the North Stars the lead at 15:15 from both Quintin and Elijah Loon-Stewardson. But seconds later Chrystopher Collin tied it up, and the game stayed tied right into overtime.
It was Braydon Buziak who scored 43 seconds into the overtime from Macgregor Sinclair. Buziak is no stranger to overtime winning goals, having also scored the winner in the game against the Kindersley Klippers that clinched first place at the end of the regular season.
The North Stars outshot the Bombers 43-32 and once again it was Joel Grzybowski who got the win, stopping 30 of 32 shots.
