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North Stars win streak snapped by Bombers

Dec 14, 2016 | 9:35 PM

The North Stars saw their seven game winning streak snapped on Wednesday evening in a 4-2 loss to the Flin Flon Bombers at the Civic Centre.

It was a tremendous first period for the home side, but after extending their lead to 2-0 three minutes into the second, their strong forecheck dropped off significantly and with it went their lead.

“Our want and our compete dissipated as the game went on,” North Stars head coach Nate Bedford said following the team’s first loss since Nov. 19. “I think our want and compete wasn’t even close to what theirs was and kudos to them. They wanted that game and they competed as hard as we’ve seen all year and it was an eye opener for us.”

Nate Hooper cut into the North Stars 2-0 lead after great work down low from Greyson Reitmeier, who got the steal and centred for Hooper, who made no mistake going high on North Stars goalie Joel Gryzbowski.

Rylee Zimmer would sneak one past Joel Gryzbowski from in tight with just a few minutes remaining in the middle frame.

“It could have been pretty easy for us as a group to, after that first period, to feel sorry for ourselves,” Bombers assistant coach Gary Childerhose said. “But I thought we did a great job of sticking together and getting through it, battling through a tough period.

“It was really positive for our group.”

Despite entering the third with a tie game, the North Stars came out flat and had no jump in their step.

“Probably the softest effort in a third period, with five or six shots… [that] I’ve had in probably five years of coaching,” Bedford said. “They deserved the win.”

The result was two goals from Dondre Watson, which were just his third and fourth goals in his last 24 games. The first one was a scramble on a rebound and the second was a well-placed shot blocker side from a difficult angle.

“Since the start of the month, he has been really good,” Childerhose said. “All players go through a slump and I think he went through a tough time for a while and glad to see that’s out of the way.”

The two early goals from Battlefords came from Troy Gerein, his seventh of the season, and Connor Logan, his 14th of the year.

Coby Downs had a solid game, as he was buzzing all night and could have had two or three goals. He had a goal called back because after deliberation the referees determined he kicked the puck in illegally.

One reason the North Stars failed to get chances in the third was because they were hemmed in their own zone. Bedford thought it was because his ‘D’ were moving the puck east-west too much, instead of pushing the play north.

“Our ‘D’ were moving the puck east-west a lot and a lot south,” he said. “I think our ‘D’ tried to do a little bit too much. In some games they can play around with the puck but when they’re forechecking as hard as they were, you’ve got simplify things a little bit and go north.

“At one point we iced the puck I think eight times when I stopped counting and that’s just trying to be too pretty.”

The North Stars power play also struggled in this game. Although it went 1-for-5, it didn’t generate many good looks.

“I thought that when we had to dump the puck in [on the power play] we weren’t first on the puck,” Bedford said. “They got in the shooting lanes and they were willing to block shots, which makes it harder on us and we’re trying to make the perfect play against a team that forces you to make a perfect play unless you want to play a tough game.

“I thought our penalty kill was real good though.”

Zac Robidoux had a strong game for the Bombers, particularly early in the game and finished with 41 saves on 43 shots.

Joel Gryzbowski was pulled after allowing the fourth goal of the game, and stopped 28 of 32 shots he faced. Taryn Kotchorek made five saves on five shots in nine minutes of relief.

The North Stars and Bombers square off again at the Civic Centre on Friday.

The Ultra Print pre-game show hits the airwaves at 7:15 p.m. on CJNB/CJNS with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m.