By Nathan Kanter

Klippers pose no challenge for North Stars yet again

Mar 4, 2017 | 1:37 AM

The season series between the North Stars and division rival Kindersley has been about as one-sided as it can get, and on Friday night that continued with another Battlefords win, this time 6-0 on the road.

Coming into the game, Battlefords had an 8-0 head-to-head record against the Klippers, while outscoring them 43 to 12.

With Friday’s result added to the fray, the four most recent results have been particularly dominant, with scores of 6-0, 6-1, 5-1 and 6-0.

That being said, there was certainly some chipiness to Friday from Kindersley, and the North Stars knew it was coming, as one of the keys for head coach Nate Bedford was to be a little bit more cautious and be aware that the Klippers might not play nice.

“Our thing is just to stick up for yourself. Don’t take anything from anybody and I thought we did that for the most part,” Bedford said after the game. “[For example] you see Gerein get hit from behind and you know it’s going to happen and unfortunately it’s just part of what we have to go through and we’re a pretty classy group though. If you’re going to do that, we’re going to take it and smile and go right back at you and beat you 6-0.”

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Rookie goaltender Joel Gryzbowski stood out again on Friday, this time with a 27-save performance to get his sixth shutout of the year and finish the season with a 21-4-1 record.

He now has a 1.66 goals-against-average to go along with a .935 save percentage, which are first and second in the league, respectively. His six shutouts are also tied for the league lead.

“It’s ridiculous,” Bedford said of his rookie goaltender’s consistency this year. “No one has any idea how hard it is to get a shutout in junior A hockey. You’ve got to be mentally into it. He had 27 shots tonight and probably 10 of them were really good quality. The kid mentally is there. And at his age, it’s pretty scary. He’s a special kid, a special goalie and he’s only going to get better.”

But another storyline was the play of two youngsters, as rookies Blake Fennig and Logan Spence both were called up for their first career SJHL game. Both are North Battleford natives.

“We went over some system stuff really quickly right after warmup and [both] their eyes were fairly large and I think they nodded but I don’t think they hear a word I said,” Bedford joked. “As the game went on I think they got more and more comfortable.”

Fennig ended up scoring in his first game, late in the third period on a power play.

“[Fennig] works hard, the guys love him, he sacrifices, he doesn’t say a word negatively…even when he scored I don’t think he knew what to do because he was so worried about the other four guys,” Bedford said. “And I like the grittiness of Spence. I think he understood that Kindersley was kind of taking it to us a little bit physically and he didn’t like it and it doesn’t matter how old he is, he’s going to tell you what he thinks and there’s nothing wrong with that. He’s a competitive kid.”

The power play ended up going 2-for-9 on the night.

Other goals came from Troy Gerein, Owen Lamb, Ryan Rosenberg, Connor Logan, and Coby Downs.

Downs had a three-point night to push his season total to 70 in just 45 games, while Gerein, Lamb, and Connor Sych each had two-point nights.

Battlefords is now 47-9-1 and will close out their regular season on Saturday night with a rematch against Kindersley.

Both Fennig and Spence will be in the lineup on Saturday, as will affiliate player Austin Wieler, who plays for the Saskatoon Contacts in midget AAA.

Reed Delainey and Zach Nedelec both sat out Friday night, and it’s likely other veterans may sit out on Saturday as well, with first place locked up a long time ago.

Puck drop is 7:30 with the Ultra Print pre-game show on CJNB/CJNS at 7:15 p.m.

Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

@NathanKanter11