It may not have been a picture-perfect way to start off the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season.
However, the Battlefords North Stars were able to kick off the 2016-17 campaign with two points in their back pocket.
In front of 839 fans at the Civic Centre, the North Stars came away with a 3-2 win over the Kindersley Klippers Friday night.
“Whenever you get a win, you’re obviously excited about that,” North Stars general manager and head coach Nate Bedford said.
“It wasn’t our best effort and it wasn’t the way we drew it up. However, finding a way to win is what makes good teams great. I know we have a great team but we just didn’t show it for the better part of the game.”
Layne Young picked up right where he left off from his rookie of the year campaign last season as he scored a pair of goals in the second period to help his team to the win.
“I was just working hard to try and get puck to the net,” Young said. “I was just lucky enough to get a couple of dirty ones in.
“We fore-checked hard tonight but we definitely need to be more physical all the way through the game. Our power play (which went 0-for-5 on Friday) wasn’t what we wanted it to be but I feel like we’re almost there with some of the chances that we had.”
Connor Logan had two assists in his SJHL debut while MacGregor Sinclair scored his first ever Junior A goal after converting a slick feed from Owen Lamb in the first period.
Ryan Rewerts got the start in goal for the North Stars but he was pulled for Taryn Kotchorek late the second period after the Klippers tied the game up at two.
“I just wanted to shake things up there,” Bedford said. “We were pretty dull in our own end. We were giving up too many scoring chances and we were leaving Ryan out to dry.
“Those type of changes are something you’ll see throughout the year from me as a coach to try and send a message.”
That message was received as Young scored his second goal of the night shortly after the switch and Kotchorek stopped all 10 shots he faced in 23:52 of work.
“Layne’s goal was huge,” Kotchorek said. “When you have a chance like we made it’s yes because the other team has a ton of momentum on their side and you want to slow that down as much as you can.
“That really fired us up and I made sure that I stepped up my game to help us get the win.”
Rewerts made 18 saves in 36:08 of ice time.
Carson Pickett and Keenan Scardina had both goals for the Klippers while Gunnar Nielsen made 30 saves in the loss.
“We had three long shits that ended up hurting us,” Klippers general manager and head coach Geoff Grimwood said.
“I liked how we played tonight and I thought it was a good hockey with both teams being evenly matched. However, we shot ourselves in the foot on their goals.”
The two sides will square off again Saturday night in Kindersley.
North Stars acquire forward
Prior to Friday’s game, the North Stars added forward Brett Horn to their lineup from the CCCHL’s Pembroke Lumber Kings in exchange for a player development fee.
“He’s a skilled forward and he’s a guy that can score in our league,” Bedford said. “He’s a good two-way player that stays out of the box and is a good position player.
“Brett’s a really good kid. I think he’ll add a spark to our lineup offensively and if we had him in the lineup today we probably wouldn’t have allowed 30 shots.”
Horn, a 20-year-old from Greensboro, North Carolina has spent the last two seasons with the Lumber Kings.
He was second on the team in scoring a year ago with 37 points in 57 games.
Friday’s SJHL roundup
The Melfort Mustangs picked up right where they left off as the winners of the last two Canalta Cups cruised to a 7-0 road win over the La Ronge Ice Wolves.
Kalem Zary led the way with two goals and an assists while Jaxon Joseph also lit the lamp twice. Eric Sinclair, last year’s SJHL top defenceman, had a goal and two assists in the win.
Nick Schultze and Matt Goudy has the other goals for the Mustangs while Evan Plotnik made 33 saves for his third career shutout.
The most exciting game of the night took place in Yorkton as the Weyburn Red Wings staged a dramatic 2-1 comeback to beat the Yorkton Terriers in overtime.
After struggling to solve Terriers netminder Jakob Severson all night, Carson Rose tied the game with just three seconds left in regulation and Jacob Wozney completed the comeback at the 3:29 mark of the extra frame.
Severson made 43 saves to earn the game’s first star. Kaleb Bell scored his first SJHL goal for the Terriers in the loss.
In another overtime affair, Dondre Watson scored just 49 seconds into three-on-three play to help the Flin Flon Bombers to a 4-3 win at home over the Nipawin Hawks.
Keegan Matthew, Brandon Lesko and Nick Shumlanski also found the back of the net for the Bombers. Grant Baetsen, Tanner Thompson and Keegan Kjargaard scored for the Hawks.
The Estevan Bruins began their campaign on a strong note in Melville with a 5-0 win over the host Millionaires.
Lynnden Pastachak had two goals and an assist in the road triumph with the other goals coming from Isaac Embree, Zach Goberis and Kaelan Holt.
Nathan Alalouf made 25 saves for his second career shutout.
Saturday’s Games (All Start Times 7:30 p.m.)
- Melville vs. Estevan
- Notre Dame vs. Humboldt
- Battlefords vs. Kindersley
- La Ronge vs. Melfort
- Flin Flon vs. Nipawin
- Yorkton vs. Weyburn
