The rollercoaster ride that has been the Battlefords North Stars' season so far was heading back in the up direction this past weekend.
Two weekend victories at home - a hair-raising 4-3 shootout victory Friday over Notre Dame Hounds followed by a convincing 8-2 drubbing of the La Ronge Ice Wolves Saturday night - was just the tonic the North Stars needed following their recent road trip.
The North Stars now are firmly in fourth place in the Bauer Conference at 10 wins 11 losses following the weekend action.
Against Notre Dame Friday, the North Stars were trying to get back on track following a dismal 5-2 defeat in Melfort Wednesday night.
Fortunately, the North Stars looked a lot better early on in their game against Notre Dame, who had just cracked the top CJHL national rankings.
For most of the night the North Stars seemed in complete control as they took a 3-0 lead that held up until the midway point of the third period.
The first goal was scored at the 4:08 mark in period one as Josh Betinol fired one past Michael Salmon, with Brandon Long and Jake McMillen assisting to make it 1-0.
In the second period, the North Stars' Betinol came through again. With Blake Young in the penalty box for tripping, Betinol fired home a shorthanded goal, with Brody Luhning assisting, at the 14:48 mark to give Battlefords a 2-0 lead.
North Stars made it 3-0 on a power play goal by Austin Evans from Keenan Martens and Luke McColgan at 17:59.
It appeared for a while as if the only drama left to be decided was whether North Stars netminder Connor Creech would record a shutout on the evening.
Unfortunately for him, not only did Notre Dame break the shutout bid, but they scored two more times in the third to tie the game.
Goals by Cory Anderson at 11:20, Brandon Millin at 13:43 and finally Dylan McIntosh at 16:11 tied up the game, shocking the crowd of 963 at North Battleford Civic Centre. North Stars head coach Kevin Hasselberg said after the game that he thought his team sat back in the third period.
"As the old saying goes, 'you've got to cut the head off the snake,' and Notre Dame is a hardworking, relentless hockey team," said Hasselberg.
There was a golden opportunity by the North Stars to score late in the third period, but the puck barely stayed out of the Notre Dame net and the remainder of regulation time and overtime solved nothing.
It was left to the shootout to determine the winner. As it turned out, the North Stars scored all three times in the shootout with goals from Betinol, Luhning and McMillen. Only Troy Murray was able to score in the shootout for the Hounds, and the Battlefords escaped with a 4-3 shootout win.
Creech ended up saving 23 of 26 shots for through regulation time and overtime.
Despite a third period meltdown that almost cost the North Stars the game, Hasselberg preferred to look at the positives that came from the win.
In particular, he noted the "100 percent effort" on power play and penalty-killing, as well as the response of the North Stars to "persevere" and pull out the win after the three Notre Dame goals in period three.
"It could have been easy for our guys to really cave in and not get success in the overtime," said Hasselberg, "They held onto it and obviously got the win in the shootout."
Betinol was named the game's first star and Hasselberg credited his performance, calling him a relentless worker for the club.
"Josh has elevated his game from the beginning of the year until now, and he's doing it on a consistent basis. Right now, the puck's going into the net for him."
Hasselberg anticipated the North Stars would be ready for La Ronge, a team facing adversity after losing top player Rhyse Dieno to Red Deer Rebels of the WHL. Nevertheless, coming into North Battleford the Ice Wolves "had something to prove," according to the head coach.
"They're going to be coming in on a high," said Hasselberg Friday night, noting La Ronge had pulled out a win against Kindersley despite the adversity.
That high proved short-lived. The North Stars came out firing on all cylinders Saturday for what had to be their most impressive game of the season so far: an 8-2 demolition of the Ice Wolves at home.
Justin Waskewitch scored on the power play from Betinol and McMillen at 11:02 to get things rolling, followed by Ryne Keller from Ben Greenaway at 12:24 and two goals by Kyle Hall at 14:42 and 18:43, with Austin Evans assisting.
That put the North Stars up 4-0 after one. Shots on goal in the first period were 16-4 in favour of the North Stars.
In the second, Luke McColgan made it 5-0 from Waskewitch and Young, before Jason Berube finally responded to break the shutout at 7:04 on the power play. But a power play goal by Hall and another by Matthew Sheeran unassisted at 18:43, gave the North Stars a 7-1 lead before Pavlo Zerebecky notched La Ronge's second of the game.
The final North Stars goal in the third period came off the stick of Young with Waskewitch and McColgan assisting for a 8-2 final score and a second straight North Stars win.
Creech stopped 32 of 34 shots for a solid 60 minutes in net for the North Stars.
With the back-to-back home wins in the books, the North Stars now have a few days to rest before they head on the road against the Humboldt Broncos on Friday night.
