The Battlefords North Stars didn’t show a lot of rust after a 10-day break for the Christmas holidays, returning to the rink to beat the Kindersley Klippers 4-2.
Ryan Rewerts made his first start since November 25 and looked great, finishing with 26 saves to pick up his 13th win of the season, and first since November 14.
The first 10 minutes of the first period were pretty slow. I even mentioned it during the broadcast. I think the shots were something like 3-2 in favour of the North Stars through the first 10 or 11 minutes of the game. But as soon as the North Stars took a penalty, things opened up.
Just nine seconds after Kendall Fransoo went off for interference, a huge hit in front of his own bench, the Klippers capitalized. Austin Calladine sent a perfect cross-ice pass from the right wing half wall onto the stick of Daniel Lange who one-timed home his 19th of the season to open the scoring. Lange really likes playing the North Stars. He’s scored in four of five games against them this season. If I was a betting man, I’d put a couple bucks on him scoring tomorrow.
Fortunately for the North Stars it didn’t take long for them to respond. After Jake (or Jack, as he was announced by the PA announcer) McMillen intercepted a pass in the slot, he softly threw it towards the goal. Nathan Hargrave thought the puck was going to roll in on him, so he went down into the butterfly. Igor Leonenko swooped in and grabbed the puck, bringing it across to Hargrave’s glove side and backhanding it past a diving Hargrave for his 27th of the year.
Shortly after, the North Stars would strike again. This time on a power play of their own. While already down a man, Hargrave came out of his net to try and clear the puck, but fired it right over the glass and into the netting. I knew that wasn’t a penalty in the SJHL when a player does it, but I discovered last night that if a goalie does it, it is in fact a delay of game penalty.
The North Stars got a 47 second five on three power play as a result, but it didn’t take nearly that long to take advantage. After the North Star won the face-off, Fransoo had all the time in the world to lean into the heaviest slap shot he possibly could, one that Hargrave couldn’t handle. It hit him up near the shoulder and dropped right in front of him. Coby Downs did a fly by of the net, gathering the puck and putting it past Hargrave on the backhand to give the North Stars the lead.
In the second the North Stars had a great opportunity to pad their lead with a four-minute power play, but couldn’t take advantage. They would get a power play goal later in the period though. Leonenko and Layne Young played a little catch with Leonenko standing at his spot, the right face off circle, and Young in the slot. Leonenko took the return pass from Young and quickly fired a snapshot past the glove of Hargrave for his second of the game.
The Klippers wouldn’t go away, however. Just 51 seconds after Leonenko’s goal, Matt Vandersloot threw a weak shot towards the net from the right wing. Rewerts kicked the rebound up in the air, but it looked like it went off a charging Josh Bly and into the net for just his second goal of the season.
The North Stars were undeterred however, and just 1:37 after Bly’s goal they restored their two goal lead. Cody Spagrud took a long shot from the right point, and Downs deflected it right in front of the net past Hargrave for his second of the night.
Despite furious pressure from the Klippers in the third, the North Stars kept them off the scoreboard. Kindersley had 14 shots through two periods, and fired another 14 on goal in the third. The North Stars also had fantastic opportunities to add to their lead, but Nathan Hargrave made a pair of 10-bell saves on Rory Davidson and Dustin Gorgi.
Davidson had a short handed breakaway after taking the puck away at centre ice, and tired to fire the puck past Hargrave’s glove but he made a great glove save.
Then with about two minutes left in the game, Gorgi took a pass from Downs from behind the net and was all alone about eight feet in front of the net. He quickly let a one timer go, but Hargrave made an absolutely amazing glove save, stretching out to rob Gorgi of a sure goal.
After the Klippers pulled Hargrave for the extra attacker, Logan Nachtegaele had a great shift, blocking two shots back to back to get a face-off. He almost got rewarded with an empty net goal, but had the puck knocked away from him at the last second at centre ice.
Either way, the North Stars held on for the 4-2 victory to finish off 2015 on the right foot. Tomorrow they’re back at home to play the Klippers again, looking to remain perfect against Kindersley and move to 6-0 against their biggest rivals. The North Stars have lost just once to a divisional opponent this season, a shootout loss to the Notre Dame Hounds back in October. They’re 13-0-0-1 against the Finning Division this season.
I don’t think it’s much of a secret anymore, at least it probably won’t be by tomorrows puck drop, that the North Stars have brought in another goalie. Brett Clark, who was with Humboldt for the first part of the season, is with the team now. At least until January 10. He appeared in 17 games with the Broncos this year, posting a 7-6-1-1 record with a 3.37 GAA and .901 save percentage. He was moved to the Calgary Mustangs in November, and at the time, he was the only goalie on the Broncos who had recorded a win.
The 20-year old has plenty of junior hockey experience, with a phenomenal season in Junior B with the Beaver Valley Nitehawks in 13-14. In the regular season he went 22-7-0 with a 2.73 GAA and .916 save percentage, then started every single game for them in the playoffs en route to winning the championship. He was even better at the Keystone Cup, winning the championship again with a 3-0 record and .959 save percentage.
The following season he spent the entire year with the Trail Smoke Eaters of the BCHL before coming to the Humboldt Broncos. He will most likely see game action before the January 10 trade deadline, possibly even as early as tomorrow.
Canadian Tire Three Stars
Third Star- Ryan Rewerts His first start in over a month went well making 26 saves and getting the win. Coach Hasselberg has mentioned before the only person who can build Rewerts’ confidence is Rewerts, and he got off on the right foot returning from injury with a win.
Second Star- Coby Downs Another player who may have needed a bit of a jolt got exactly that with a pair of goals. Coach Hasselberg said after the game that both of his goals came from within a few feet of the net, and hopes he’ll recognize that and continue to take himself to the net when he has opportunities.
First Star- Igor Leonenko Clearly no rust on Leonenko after the break as he scored twice, including the game winner. Is a force on the ice and it’s great to see him have so much success after two injury-riddled seasons before this year.
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