The Battefords North Stars beat the top two teams in the Sherwood Conference Thursday and Saturday, but Sunday the Broncos bucked them off their 13-game winning streak.
Connor Creech started in net for the North Stars Sunday and allowed five goals on 35 shots, as the North Stars were shutout for the first time this season.
Humboldt had a strong game from goaltender Deven Dubyk and the goals came from Matt Glowa (2), Andrew Johnston, Mathew Backhouse and Taylor Duzan. Sunday, the North Stars got in some penalty trouble while they were trying to find a spark and gain some momentum against the Broncos. Jared Samborski was giving a major penalty and game misconduct for checking from behind in the first period. In the third, Jake Daughtry fought Josh Roach and Roger Tagoona was given a game misconduct after trying to spark a fight late in the third period. The North Stars had a total of 54 minutes of penalties issued their way while Humboldt was 2/6 with the man advantage. The North Stars were 0/5 on their power play chances.
The North Stars winning streak ends at 13, and so too did their perfect record in the head-to-head series against Humboldt, which now sits at 3-1-0-0. The two teams will play once more before the New Year, as the Broncos will be in the Battlefords Dec. 21.
Saturday, the North Stars played perhaps one of their best games of the season, or at least that was the case for 50 minutes of the game.
The North Stars hosted the Sherwood Conference leading Weyburn Red Wings and earned the 6-3 win.
It was a physical, fast paced game from the beginning and the North Stars jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period and didn't look back.
"We definitely came out tonight ready to work against the top team in the south," said captain Travis Sparrow after Saturday's win on home ice. "We were working hard all week in practice and we were getting ready for this, because it was one of our biggest games all year. We came ready from the drop of the puck."
The North Stars came out ready and so did their fans. For the first time this season the Civic Centre had more than 1,000 fans in attendance and the players and coaches definitely noticed the support.
"It is huge, we are community hockey team and we are all about this community and it has been a goal of ours to hit that 1,000 mark, and now, we want to try and keep it there," said head coach Kevin Hasselberg. "The Battlefords are getting a very entertaining brand of hockey. Those fortunate enough to come out and watch these kids compete are in for a treat. Thank you very much to all the fans who have supported us along the way and continue to support us, and we hope to get more."
The North Stars started the scoring Saturday with first period goals from Tanner Schwab and Brett Miller. Schwab's ninth of the season was scored after he fired a shot from the top of the circle. Kyle Hall and Tagoona had the assists. Miller's 10th of the season came after he made a nice deke to get in alone on the goalie with Braeden Johnson and Blake Tatchell drawing the assists.
In the second, Tagoona tipped a nice slap pass from Zach MacLellan for his fourth of the season. Curtis Toneff also had an assist on the North Stars' third goal.
The North Stars didn't stop there, Tatchell connected with Johnson on a beautiful cross crease pass from the corner for an easy tap in to go up 4-0. Woody Klassen drew the second assist on what would eventually be marked as the game-winning goal.
In the third period, Brody Luhning put the North Stars up 5-0 with his ninth of the season from Johnson and MacLellan before the Red Wings attempted a comeback.
Ryne Keller was given a game misconduct and five-minute major for boarding midway through the third period and Weyburn were able to gain some momentum from that point.
The North Stars also ended up with 41 more total penalty minutes in the next 1:22. Toneff and Keegan Bruce got in a scuffle and Travis Sparrow and Robert Wilkinson dropped the gloves and after the players were escorted to the penalty box Weyburn ended up on the power play.
Weyburn was able to claw their way back into the game, as Jesse Ross, Tyler Borstmayer and Jordon Hoffman scored three straight goals for the Red Wings in less than four minutes, two of which were on the power play. With five minutes remaining Hasselberg called a timeout.
"We just had to recompose ourselves," said Hasselberg. "We got running around a little bit and I think got caught up in the moment. They are a very explosive team. Weyburn has got three scorers that are in the top five in scoring and we have to respect that, but at the same time we had to get back to what we were doing for the first 40 minutes of that hockey game and I thought our guys responded well."
The North Stars refocused and added an empty net goal, Tatchell's 32nd of the season, on an unselfish play by Johnson on a two-on-one.
Hildebrand earned the win, his 16th of the season.
Thursday, the sports adage that teams need to be 'good to be lucky and lucky to be good' came through for the North Stars. After trailing 2-1 heading into the second period and 3-1 after two periods, it was by no means the North Stars' best game of the season, but they were still close enough to make a game of it. The North Stars battled back, first Tagoona scored five minutes into the third period. Seven minutes later, Boyd Wakelin scored his eighth of the season to tie the game and eventually force overtime.
After taking a penalty in overtime, the North Stars were down four-on-three, but Tatchell picked off a pass in his own zone and scored on a breakaway deke to end the game and give Creech the 36-save win.
Tatchell also scored in the first period for the North Stars Thursday while assists came from Miller, Johnson, Hall, MacLellan, Tanner Quinn and Robbie Newton.
The balanced scoring from the North Stars lineup is something the coaches are happy to see and credit their 13-game winning streak to.
"There is no star on our team, the star on this team is the team itself and those kids know that," said Hasselberg. "Everybody has a role to play."
The North Stars are right back in action looking to begin a new winning streak, as they have nine-game and 13-game winning streaks so far this season. The North Stars were in La Ronge Tuesday and will host Flin Flon Thursday.
