North Stars bounce back after loss with 4-1 win

Both the coaching staff and players agree that the back pressure from the forwards played a key role in the way they were able to shut down the Hounds, specifically leading SJHL scorer Ben Duperreault and leading rookie scorer Adam Dawe. Both were held off the scoresheet.

“We preach getting back to the house and being hard through the middle,” North Stars forward Connor Logan said. “I think we did a good job of that.”

“With skilled forwards, you’ve got to take their time and space away,” Johnson added. “We gapped up when we need to and we held the blueline. I think you have to give credit to our forwards for the aggressive backcheck that we had that allowed [us] to hold the blueline.”

Another contributing factor in the win was the power play, which struck three times in the game.

The first conversion was a point shot from Connor Sych, followed by a redirection from Logan, and then a goal in tight from Keaton Holinaty.

Sych’s goal came in his 150th career game and was his 75th career point. Logan’s tip came off of a Jared Blaquiere point shot, which was Blaquiere’s 100th career point. The Edam native has 31 goals and 69 assists in 148 career games. Holinaty’s goal was a quick shot to the top corner and was his 12th power play marker of the season, which is tied for the third most power play goals in the SJHL.

Cody Spagrud also scored at even strength, his fifth goal and 20th point of the season.

“[On] our first two goals, we got some screens in front and battled in the areas that we needed to,” Johnson said. “From a power play standpoint, I think we controlled the play extremely well. If we didn’t score on the power play, we created momentum and that’s exactly what we’re looking for from our power play.”

Taryn Kotchorek only had to make eight saves through two periods, but closed the door on 15 Hounds shots in the third to get his 26th win of the season.

The North Battleford native, who has been nominated for SJHL goaltender of the year, is now 26-3 this season with a 1.67 goals-against-average and .933 save percentage. That G.A.A. leads the league, while the save percentage is second to Nipawin’s Kristian Stead. The 26 wins also rank second.

“[Taryn] is the heart and soul of our team,” Johnson said. “He’s fearless. His competitiveness, it’s contagious really. Tonight it showed. The way he battles through screens and bodies in front is second to none. It’s unbelievable and the guys feed off of it when he’s battling. How can you not battle for a guy like that?”

Meanwhile, Troy Gerein played in his 100th career game and picked up an assist.

Notre Dame came into the game with a 6-0-2 record in their last eight, but with the loss they fail to make up ground on Humboldt, who got two points on Saturday to get to 60 points. Humboldt is in fifth, while Notre Dame is one spot back with 56 points. Weyburn also has 56 points but has played one more game than the Hounds, and are in seventh.

“Against a team like Battlefords, you have to be really simple in your game plan and not try to do too much and we had too many guys try to do too much,” Hounds head coach Clint Mylymok said. “[But] it’s a pretty good stretch [for us], so to say we’re disappointed, it’s one game.

“We’ll turn the page and learn from it.”

Absent from Saturday’s game was Ben Allen, who took a high blinside hit from Brett Harasymuk of Nipawin on Friday and left the game. He will see a doctor on Monday to determine the severity of his injury.

Battlefords will close out their season with a home-and-home with Kindersley on Friday and Saturday. They are in Kindersley on March 3 and at home on March 4 for their final regular season game.

Puck drop for both games is 7:30 p.m.

by Nathan Kanter

North Stars bounce back after loss with 4-1 win

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