North Stars and Bombers prepare for winner-take-all Game 7

Heading into the playoffs with the third and fourth ranked offenses respectively, the two sides have relied heavily on even-strength scoring so far, as each penalty kill has been terrific.

The Stars have a nearly 94 per cent efficiency rate on the penalty kill, holding the Bombers to just two goals on 31 power play opportunities. The Bombers are around the 82 per cent mark, keeping the Stars to five goals on 28 attempts.

Through six games, Stars’ goalie Joel Grzybowski enters Tuesday night with a shimmering 2.00 goals-against average and .943 save percentage. Grzybowski sits first amongst goaltenders to have played at least four games, in each category this postseason.

At the other end, Gabriel Waked has posted a 2.29 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in his own right.

The North Stars have seen tremendous output offensively from the blue line position, with five different defencemen already, chipping in to pick up goals through the series.

Matthew Fletcher and Noah Form each scored their first career playoff goals in game three, while Garrett Johnson scored his first goal of the postseason, and first as with the Stars in game four.

Blue liners Cody Spagrud and Seth Summers got on the board as well, in game six.

Stars’ blue liners, Cody Spagrud and Noah Form led all players in ice time in Game 5’s triple overtime contest, playing 46 and 44 minutes through the six periods, respectively. Both players will no doubt pick up big minutes this evening in Game 7 against the Bombers. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

The young guns up front have also played a prominent role in their team’s success, as Stars’ rookie, Quintin Loon-Stewardson leads the Battlefords in scoring heading into the deciding game, with seven points on the series.

After potting four goals in 41 games over the regular season, forward Kaden Boser scored the game winner in each of the first two games. Austin Becker and Brett Gammer each got on the board in game six in Flin Flon, with the pair of freshmen notching the first playoff goals of their SJHL careers as well.

Veterans Braydon Buziak, MacGregor Sinclair and Owen Lamb have played majority of the series together for the Battlefords. Together, the trio have combined for four goals, nine points through six games, while playing key shutdown minutes head-to-head against the Hooper, Hein tandem throughout.

Buziak scored the OT winner in game three for his team, which served as his second of the playoffs, while Sinclair’s offensive flare came alive in the form of a three-point outing Friday in game five.

Buziak was moved to play with the Loon-Stewardson’s on the second line in game six, as forward Ryan Gil missed the contest with a lower body injury.

Gil, who finished fourth on the team in goals this year with 19, and fifth in points (39), is expected to make his return to the lineup tonight for game seven, but will officially prove to be a game time decision.

On the other side of the equation, the Bombers have also been forced to face adversity due to injury, losing their big-minute muncher and offensive producer on the backend, in rearguard Calvon Boots.

Boots, who finished tied for third in defencemen scoring this season, with 42 points in just 44 games, took a hit from Kaden Boser in the late stages of the second period of game five that was deemed by the official to be a blow to the head.

Boots left the game and has not played since. The Fairbanks, AK., product did not play a minute of the third period or overtime for his team in the fifth game, and was held out after being a game time decision in game six.

Boots, like Gil, is likely to return for game seven.

In the absence of their star defender, the Bombers’ have received depth scoring in their own right. Caleb Franklin, who began the series on the fourth unit has scored two goals, while Alec Cokely chipped in with a goal for his team in game six Sunday.

The big turning point for the Bombers, however has been at the top of their lineup, with the shift of Cade Kowalski to join forwards Nate Hooper and Brandson Hein on the Flin Flon top line.

Leading all Bombers’ forwards in production with seven points on the series, Kowalski has helped to ignite his squad’s two leading scorers from the regular season, in Hooper (87 points) and Hein (78 points).

After a quiet first four games of the series, that saw Hooper pick up just two secondary assists through four games, the captain answered the bell big time for his team in game five, scoring the most important goal of Flin Flon’s season, forcing overtime with just 28.8 seconds to go in regulation time.

For the encore, Hooper then scored the game winner in triple overtime that night.

The veteran Hein, who finished second in league goals this season with 43 (in just 55 games), was held off the scoresheet altogether through the first three games, before breaking out in game four at home to score the game-winner just 17 seconds into the extra session for his second point of the night.

Hein followed up the performance with a goal and three points in game five.

For both the Stars’ and Bombers’ veterans and rookies alike, each player has grown up dreaming of playing the hero in game seven someday, from their days back on the driveway growing up.

Tonight, for someone, that dream will become reality.

The Ultra Print Pregame Show will begin at 7 p.m. with puck drop at 7:30 p.m. on NAPA North Stars Hockey on 1050 CJNB.

In other playoff action around the SJHL:

The Nipawin Hawks will play host to the Yorkton Terriers at Centennial Arena in game seven tonight in Nipawin, while the Estevan Bruins will Humboldt in game seven of their series at Affinity Place in Estevan.

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1

by Martin Martinson

North Stars and Bombers prepare for winner-take-all Game 7

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