By Martin Martinson

North Stars prove top dog in win over Hounds

Nov 30, 2018 | 10:14 PM

The Battlefords North Stars capped off November on a high note, defeating the division-rival Notre Dame Hounds 5-1 at the NB Civic Centre Friday night.

For the Stars, the win marked their third in their last four games, improving their record over the month to 7-3-2.

Despite the positive end result for the North Stars, it was Notre Dame who originally struck first. Jakob Breault opened the scoring Friday night, giving his team a 1-0 lead on their first power play of the contest, just over five minutes in.

Breault, who received a centering feed right out in front, fired the puck home for his 12th of the season, with the assists going to Charles Martin and Hardy Wagner.

Turning up the heat as the period ran along, the North Stars would answer back, not once, but twice, before the horn would sound, courtesy of their two skilled forwards from south of the boarder.

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Pulling the team even was Ryan Gil, The California Kid. Gil’s tally came off a nice three-way passing play that saw Quintin Loon-Stewardson chip the puck in deep and retrieve, before then centering to MacGregor Sinclair at the side of the goalmouth. Rather than just snap a shot off blind from in tight, Sinclair then dished the puck, without thinking twice, to a salivating Gil for the tap in right in front of the blue paint.

For Gil, the goal bumped his total for the year to double digits, marking his tenth of the campaign.

The Wisconsin Wonder, Austin Becker, would take over soon after that, with the crafty forward’s goal coming almost exactly two minutes later, off another nice tape-to-tape-to-tape passing play down low that saw Kaden Boser relay the puck to Dylan Esau, who then one-touched to Becker for a spin around shot that beat the visiting goaltender high short-side.

Becker’s scoring contribution would be his fourth of the season, and give the Stars their first lead of the evening.

The scoreboard would read 2-1 North Stars to close out the first, with the Battlefords outshooting their opposition by a 13-10 count.

That shot advantage would only continue to teeter further in the North Stars’ favor come the second period, with the Stars’ onslaught kicking into overdrive en route to producing another two goals to pad their lead, and offer some insurance.

Stars’ captain, Cody Spagrud was the man to make it 3-1, coming off a 2-on-1 rush that saw the defenseman look off the pass, before then wiring a shot top corner for his sixth of the year.

Only about five minutes after Spagrud’s tally, another of the team’s veterans, Braydon Buziak, would also answer the bell on an offensive foray that concluded with the Kindersley, Sask., product slinging a shot high to the far-side, alluding the Notre Dame netminder due to no fault of his own.

Buziak’s snipe was the forward’s ninth of the season, and wrapped up the second, with the period ending 4-1 North Stars, thanks in part to 25-18 advantage on the shot clock after fourty minutes of play.

In the third, MacGregor Sinclair, who entered action as the team’s top point producer, added to his total further, scoring his 11th of the season off a bullet from his off-side, to go along with his two assists from earlier in the game.

North Stars’ goalie, Joel Grzybowski made 26 stops on the 27 shots he faced, to cement his team’s victory, and continue his hot play as of late, posting a .963sv% in the win.

The black and silver will now get some time to rest up and regroup before heading back into action Tuesday night against another divisional-rival, as the Humboldt Broncos come to town. Pregame will begin at 7:15 p.m. with puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m. on 1050 CJNB.

Scoring summary

First period:

5:36 ND Jakob Breault (12) ASST: Charles Martin (14), Hardy Wagner (7), (PP)

13:29 BAT Ryan Gil (10) ASST: MacGregor Sinclair (21), Quintin Loon-Stewardson (5)

15:20 BAT Austin Becker (4) ASST: Kaden Boser (2), Dylan Esau (8)

Second period:

9:41 BAT Cody Spagrud (6) ASST: MacGregor Sinclair (22), Matthias Urbanski (17)

15:27 BAT Braydon Buziak (9) ASST: Brett Gammer (6), Owen Lamb (9)

Third period:

5:12 BAT MacGregor Sinclair (11) ASST: Qunitin Loon-Stewardson (6), Cody Spagrud (16)

5-1 North Stars final.

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1