The Battlefords North Stars impressive run continued at the Civic Centre Tuesday night.
In their second meeting with the La Ronge Ice Wolves in less than a week, the North Stars skated away with a 4-1 victory and earned their ninth consecutive win in the process.
“La Ronge outworked us in the first two periods, but then we came out and played our game in the third period,” North Stars associate coach Braeden Johnson said. “When we execute our game plan, that’s when we are successful.
“I have to give a lot of credit to the leadership that we have in the dressing room as well. They really helped to change things around in the third period.”
Although Tuesday’s wasn’t as close as Friday’s 4-3 shootout affair between the two sides in La Ronge, both sides were tied up at a single goal apiece through 40 minutes before the North Stars scored twice in the third period.
“We need to have better starts,” North Stars forward Keaton Holinaty said. “We can’t keep doing that against teams that are lower than us in the standings.
“I think we don’t have the right attitude when we play against these kind of teams. We need to remember that they are just as good as us, and it doesn't matter where they are in the standings. Everyone in this league battles hard and we have a target on our back as one of the top teams, so we need to play up to that level at all times.”
Holinaty played a key part in his team’s third period charge as he scored a pair of power play goals.
“Finally,” Holinaty said. “We had six power plays tonight so it was nice to get a goal in those situations.
“I kind of got lucky on the second goal. The puck bounced and I missed it the first time, but I was able to get a good shot on the backhand attempt and it ended up in the net. On the first goal, (Kendall) Fransoo made a nice play to the net and I just had to give a little whack to the puck to score.”
Holinaty also had an assist on Brett Horn’s goal in the second period.
Cody Spagrud gave his team the lead just 53 seconds into the final frame while Taryn Kotchorek turned aside 18 shots.
“The line of Horn, Holinaty and (Connor) Logan have been working really well together as of late and it was nice to see them rewarded for their play tonight,” Johnson said.
“Spagrud came up big with his goal in the third period and I thought Fransoo did a great job of leading the way. His work ethic and leadership is something that everyone follows out there.”
Jared Blaquiere had the lone goal for the Ice Wolves, who have a 2-15-0-3 record and have lost their last six games.
“The intensity that we had and our compete level was similar to what we had Friday night at home,” Ice Wolves acting head coach Eric Bell said.
“The biggest difference was the third period. We took a couple of penalties and they were able to capitalize with two power play goals.”
Aaron MacKay made 40 saves for the visiting side in the loss.
With the win, the North Stars now enjoy a five-point cushion over the Humboldt Broncos in the race for first place in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Finning Division.
The Broncos suffered a 4-3 loss at home to the Notre Dame Hounds Tuesday night.
In the battle for the top spot in the league standings, the North Stars lead the Estevan Bruins by three points ahead of the Bruins home game with the Melville Millionaires Wednesday evening.
Next up for the North Stars, who now have a 17-5-0-0 record, is a home-and-home series this weekend with the Kindersley Klippers, with the first meeting between the two sides taking place at the Civic Centre at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
“Kindersley’s had a few big wins as of late and we know they’ll be coming out hard after they didn’t play well here the last time we faced them,” Holinaty said.
“We’ll need to come out like we have previously against them, and we’ll need to have a good start.”
The teams will square off again in Kindersley Saturday night.
