By Nathan Kanter

Downs shines as North Stars tie franchise record with 44th win

Feb 18, 2017 | 10:18 PM

It was the Coby Downs show on Saturday night at the Civic Centre, as the North Stars centre netted his second career hat-trick to lift the home side to their 44th win of the season.

The win means the North Stars have now tied a franchise record for wins in a single season, which was set back in 1995-96 when the team went 44-17-3 in a 64-game season. They are 44-8-1 this year with five games remaining.

“It doesn’t mean much to me but to the players I’m sure it does,” North Stars head coach Nate Bedford said on reaching the milestone, making it clear he doesn’t take much credit. “Good for them… to have such a successful year. I’ve said from the get-go, it’s a nice bus to be riding on, that’s for sure. Such a skilled group and good group of kids and usually when you do things the right way and you’re good people and you work hard, good things happen.

“Really proud to be a part of it, but long way to go.”

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Coby Downs was held off the scoresheet on Friday in Melfort despite numerous high quality scoring chances, including one that went off the cross-bar.

On Saturday, he began the night by hitting the cross-bar yet again, but kept at it and eventually scored three straight goals, including the final one into an empty net. His second goal of the night was also the 50th of his career.

“He didn’t score but he was certainly electric last night,” Bedford said. “Good for him to come in and score today. He’s a special player.

“He finds ways to get the puck int he back of the net. Wherever he goes in the future, he’s going to score at all levels just because he’s so smart and he’s got such a good release.”

Downs said he and linemates Layne Young and Ben Allen spoke before the game about making the most of their chances.

“We haven’t been finding the net very much the last couple games,” Downs said. “We’re getting our chances but tonight we talked as a line and just said that we need to bare down individually.”

Each linemate picked up three points on the net, as Young and Allen both assisted on all three of Downs’ goals.

Downs now has 62 points on the season in just 41 games. The total is fifth in the league, while his 1.51 points-per-game is first, just ahead of Ben Duperreault’s 1.50 mark. Downs also leads the league with nine game-winning-goals.

Young has 63 points this season now, good for fourth league-wide, while Allen has 43 points.

Another slow start, followed by a dominant 2nd period

The North Stars were outshot 13-9 in the first period and looked flat, much like they did Friday in Melfort.

But in the second period, they outshot Humboldt 21-2. On Friday, Battlefords outshot Melfort 14-3 in the second period.

“It’s the jekyll and hyde of us but that’s just junior hockey,” Bedford explained. “One of the reasons we have 44 wins is we don’t allow a full 60 minutes to go that way, where we don’t play well. That’s the difference between being really good, like our record is, or not being in the playoffs.

“We do a good job of turning it around and…the message is always a little bit different with these guys and the delivery is always different [but] the response is always the same. I think that’s the good thing.”

When asked if he’s worried that slow starts might hamper the team’s ability to get wins in the playoffs, Bedford said it’s always on his mind.

“It’s always a concern,” he said. “It’s not like we’re surprised. We understand that we don’t start well.”

The final shots on goal were 43-23 for the North Stars.

Gryzbowski gets fifth shutout of season

Joel Gryzbowski stopped all 23 shots he faced for his 20th win of the season and fifth shutout.

He was particularly strong when it mattered – the first period. Logan Schatz and Josh Roberts each had semi-breakaways in the opening period, and other Broncos had opportunities in close, but the 17-year-old from Hafford consistently shut the door.

“As good as their goalie was tonight, so was ours,” Bedford said. “The one thing I will say about [Gryzbowski], being such a young kid, is having five shutouts is more mental than it is confidence. It’s hard to stay focused for 60 minutes. For a young guy, playing in an older league than he’s used to obviously coming out of midget, to stay focused for 60 minutes and get the shutout is not easy.”

Gryzbowski leads the league with a 1.68 goals-against-average and is second with a .934 save percentage in 24 games. His record is 20-3-1.

Battlefords to meet Kindersley 3 times in remaining 5 games

Battlefords will travel to Kindersley on Wednesday and they also close out the regular season with a home-and-home against them.

The Klippers lost in overtime on Saturday night to Melville but they fired 57 shots on goal. Kinderlsey now has a 24-27-3 record and is in ninth place, but they are just five points out of fifth.

“They’re really trying to fight for playoff positioning,” Bedford said. “I think, like everyone else, we’re going to get their best effort and we’ve got to make sure we stay focused.

“It’s a healthy rivalry and guys are chirping at each other back and forth and it’s a phyiscal affair each time but it hasn’t gotten to the point where it’s gone overboard so I think that’s good.”

Wednesday’s game can be heard on 1050 CJNB/CJNS with the Ultra Print pre-game show at 7:15 p.m.