Jordin Tootoo, who plays with the Nashville Predators in the NHL, may be the most famous hockey player from Nunavut, but he was sending out his praise Tuesday night via Twitter to Rankin Inlet's own Roger Tagoona, as were many fans of the Battlefords North Stars.
The reason? Tagoona completed the North Stars' improbable comeback and did what ever hockey player dreams of - scoring the series-winning goal in overtime in game seven.
"Nothing even comes close to this goal," said Tagoona after the game.
The North Stars fired 44 shots at Nipawin's goalie Davis Jones through 60 minutes of regulation and it took one minute of overtime and one shot to end the series.
"We knew we had to get traffic going to the net, and they (coaches Kevin Hasselberg and Blair Atcheynum) stressed the mid-lane drive and going hard to the net and making it hard on him. And it worked out," said Tagoona.
The North Stars peppered Jones with 20 shots in the first period and led 13-0 midway through the first frame on the shot clock. However, Nipawin's first shot by Jesse Bernard was stopped by Connor Creech and the rebound was put away by Wheaton King to give Nipawin the lead despite the North Stars controlling the play in the first period.
The Hawks' lead held up until the middle of the second period when Boyd Wakelin, who the coaching staff calls their "money in the bank player," finished off a beautiful passing play to tie the game. Jordan Ethier rushed the puck down the ice with speed, worked a give-and-go with Blake Tatchell and centred the puck for Wakelin who finally found a way to beat Jones.
A minute after the Battlefords North Stars' tied the game and had all the momentum in their favour, Dustin Skilliter throw a big body check on Tanner Quinn and shattered the glass on the penalty box door, forcing a delay in the action with nearly six minutes left in the second period.
Although the North Stars followed up the delay with several good shifts to end the period, they couldn't score and the game was tied 1-1 going into the third period.
Both goaltenders played amazing hockey through the first 40 minutes. Jones made 29 saves in 40 minutes while Creech made 12, and half of those were off prime scoring chances from the Hawks.
The teams traded chances in the third period and both sides had opportunities to finish the game. The best Nipawin chance came with a pass across the crease to Justin Waskewitch with about six minutes remaining, but the pass eluded his stick.
Minutes later, the North Stars had a similar chance at the other end, but it was the same result. Jones continued to keep his team in the game and forced overtime.
In the only other overtime game this series, Nipawin ended it with a 1-0 win two minutes into the extra frame and also in the previous six games the team to score first won the game.
Tuesday night, was the North Stars' night, as after a line change was made, Tanner Schwab got the puck in deep in the Hawks' zone. Tim Rollins, who turned 20 the day of the game, centred the puck and Tagoona crashed the net and ended the series with the goal.
The majority of the 2,450 fans at the Civic Centre erupted as the red light came on.
Tagoona had just one point in the series coming into game seven, but he, his line mates and the coaching staff felt they were maybe one of the most effective lines through the series. They just hadn't caught a break to score.
"We haven't quite been getting the bounces we needed to put the puck in the net, but we knew we were doing good things out there and didn't want to change anything up," said Tagoona. "We said we are going to finally score when it counts the most."
That they did, as the North Stars now face the Humboldt Broncos, who swept the La Ronge Ice Wolves in their series and finished first in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with a 42-11-2-3 record.
In his post game interview, coach Hasselberg wanted to make note of how incredible the fans were before talking about his team's effort throughout the series and looking ahead to Humboldt. The fans more or less willed the North Stars to victory in game five, six and seven, he said.
The players showed their appreciation as they did a lap around the ice surface after the handshake to salute their loyal and loud fans.
North Stars nation will need to be loud and proud once again for the Bauer Conference championship series.
