Pictured here: Stars’ teammates, Quintin Loon-Stewardson (#22), Seth Summers (#27), Noah Form (#7) and Matthias Urbanski (#12) gather around goaltender Adam Dmyterko (#35) to celebrate. Dmyterko stopped 39 of 41 Broncos’ shots to help lead the Stars to victory Wednesday night at the Civic Centre. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Stars shining bright

Stars buck Broncos, sweep home-and-home with Humboldt with 4-2 win at Civic Centre

Dec 18, 2019 | 11:30 PM

The Battlefords North Stars doubled up the division-rival Humboldt Broncos, 4-2 Wednesday night at Civic Centre, to take a 2-0 sweep of the teams’ home-and-home series this week.

Goaltender, Adam Dmyterko led the way for the Battlefords, stopping 39 of 41 Broncos’ shots on the night, while four different Stars scored for the team in the win.

Quintin Loon-Stewardson, Timon Prexler, Jaxon Steele and Ben Hiltz engineered the offence with a goal apiece, along with Elijah Loon-Stewardson, who pitched in four helpers on route to the Stars’ victory.

Logan Kurki and Nicksha Eric scored for Humboldt in the losing cause, while 16-year-old Brett Mirwald was excellent throughout the night between the pipes, stopping 35 of 38 to keep his team in the game to the final horn.

Quintin Loon-Stewardson’s opening tally made it 1-0 Battlefords just passed the midway mark of the first period. The scoring sequence came on the team’s first man advantage of the night.

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Noah Form set up the play, snapping a shot on goal that was tipped mid-flight by Loon-Stewardson. The gorgeous display of hand-eye coordination served as the forward’s second in as many nights, and team-leading 23^rd goal of the year. It was also the lone tally of the opening frame.

Defenceman, Noah Form returned to the lineup Wednesday night for the Battlefords, after missing Tuesday’s game due to illness. It didn’t take long for the blue liner to make a tangible impact in his return, setting up the opening goal of the night for his 20th point of the season. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

In the second, blue liner TImon Prexler’s goal made it 2-0 Stars on his fourth of the season; joining the rush to cash in on a wrister seven minutes in.

For Prexler, the goal was the defenceman’s third in the last two nights, following up a two-goal outing Tuesday night in Humboldt, to keep the young gun red hot.

Jaxon Steele provided the Stars’ their second power play strike of the night just eight minutes later on a heavy wrist shot from the left circle, to extend the home side’s lead further, to 3-0 Stars.

To their credit, however, the Broncos stuck around and cashed in for one of their own just 3:21 later. Logan Kurki’s breakaway goal made it a two-goal game once again, heading into the final period, 3-1 North Stars.

In the third, Humboldt struck again thanks to a scramble in front, put home by defenceman, Nicksha Eric which made it a one-goal contest at 3-2 Battlefords.

The goal would be as close as the Broncos got on the night though, as Ben Hiltz added an empty netter to seal the victory for his team at 4-2 Stars, the final.

Hiltz’ tally also served as his second in two nights, while counting as the forward’s 13^th of the season.

With the win, the North Stars have now scored 11 goals over their last two games and will be looking to carry that momentum moving forward. The victory pushes the team to 60 points on the season, thanks to a league-best, 29-6-2 record on the year.

With the loss, Humboldt are now 16-15-5 on the season, and remain sixth overall with 37 points.

The North Stars will now look ahead to Friday night, as the team will cap their schedule for the 2019 calendar year with a final game against the division-rival Notre Dame Hounds prior to the Christmas break.

Friday’s game will be broadcast on 1050 CJNB. The Ultra Print Pregame Show will begin at 7:15 p.m. with puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m. on NAPA Auto Parts North Stars Hockey.

Scoring summary

First period:

10:02 BAT Quintin Loon-Stewardson (23) ASST: Noah Form (14), Elijah Loon-Stewardson (19) (PP)

Second period:

7:05 BAT Timon Prexler (4) ASST: Elijah Loon-Stewardson (20), Matthias Urbanski (21)

15:02 BAT Jaxon Steele (4) ASST: Elijah Loon-Stewardson (21), Matthew Fletcher (24)

18:23 HUM Logan Kurki (6) ASST: Cade Cavallini (1)

Third period:

15:06 HUM Nicksha Eric (4) ASST: Tristan Shewchuk (12)

19:34 BAT Ben Hiltz (13) ASST: Elijah Loon-Stewardson (22) (EN)

4-2 North Stars, the final.

—

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1