Life on the road was kind for the North Stars, beating Weyburn before travelling to Wadena to play Notre Dame on an unforgettable hockey day in Saskatchewan. The black and white looked to increase their winning streak to four games Friday night against La Ronge.
The Battlefords dominated from the opening whistle to the final buzzer last time they clashed with the Ice Wolves, walking away with a 5-1 victory. Friday posed to be a different type of game, but with the same result.
Ryan Rewerts had an outstanding 60 minutes between the pipes, stopping 27 of 29 shots in a 3-2 win.
La Ronge may have still had their subpar performance fresh in their memory, as they opened the scoring just one minute into the opening frame.
A heavy forecheck allowed Brendan Barron to walk across the slot, flipping a backhand over the glove of Rewerts for his eighth of the campaign. Braden Jakubowski worked in the corner before finding him in a quality scoring position.
After a high sticking call led to a disallowed goal from Igor Leonenko, the North Stars managed to tie the game on the power play. On his 19th birthday, Connor Sych walked in from the right point, taking the puck behind the net, stick-handling around the collapsing defence while looking for number 19 in the slot. Dustin Gorgi was tied up but was able to get enough on the shot to beat Dakota Kenyon on the far side. The goal was his 21st of the year.
Quality goaltending was on display in the opening 20 minutes with Rewerts and Kenyon making big saves to keep this one close. La Ronge narrowly outshot the North Stars 12-11 through one period of play.
Leonenko was denied a tally in the first, but found his 32nd of the year on the man advantage four minutes into the middle stanza. Jake McMillen took a pass from Layne Young before finding number 25 in his spot on the right wing. Leonenko sent a rocket of a one-timer short side, beating Kenyon under the glove to give the Battlefords a 2-1 lead.
The North Stars controlled the tempo in the second, more than doubling La Ronge in shots, firing off 14 to the Ice Wolves’ six.
La Ronge found the back of the net with six minutes left in the third period. On the man advantage, the navy and teal jerseys swarmed Rewerts. The North Stars netminder made the initial save on the doorstep, but kicked out the rebound onto the stick of Jakubowski, who made no mistake scoring his 10th.
The offence came in flurries in what was a slow third period when Rory Davidson restored the one-goal advantage for the Battlefords a minute later. The energy line combined for a point with Logan Nachtegaele hitting Baxter Kanter with a pass before Davidson snapped a shot home from the left hash mark for his third of the campaign. The mark would stand to be the eventual game winner.
Davidson is now on a scoring tear, having tallied seven points in his last seven games.
The North Stars will travel to Edam tomorrow for the second tilt of their two game series against La Ronge.
“It’s a privilege to play in the small communities throughout Saskatchewan,” Hasselberg said. “We’ve been fortunate to play in Pinehouse, then Wadena and now in Edam. The energy and enthusiasm in the small communities is electrifying and it inspires our players."
Puck drop is 7 p.m.
