Forwards Jackson Allan (North Stars) and Spencer Bell (Broncos) in action, Friday at the ACC. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Down to the wire

North Stars ‘come up just short’ in shootout loss to Broncos

Oct 20, 2023 | 11:59 PM

It was a game that seemed destined to go down to the wire early, and delivered as a nail-biter right to the final shot, as the Battlefords North Stars fell 2-1 to Humboldt in a shootout Friday night in their return to home ice.

A scoreless game through the first, it was the goaltenders who took centre stage throughout the night. North Stars’ Justen Maric stopped 35/36 shots against, while Broncos’ Benjamin Motew went 28/29, each allowing just a single goal apiece through 65 minutes of play.

“I thought it was a fast-paced game, they have a good club over there with a lot of returning players, and I thought we were right there with them right to the end,” North Stars’ assistant coach, Garry Childerhose said postgame.

“I thought the game was really back-and-forth at times and it came down to just one [goal] in the shootout tonight, but overall it was a good team effort. Justen Maric made some huge saves to keep us in it and we just came up a little short.”

North Stars’ rookie blue liner Carson Olsen opened the scoring on the night with his third of the season to make it a 1-0 Battlefords’ lead 6:06 into the second period, coming off a perfectly-placed shot post-and-in far-side through traffic.

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Broncos’ veteran and team captain Cage Newans then answered, just over three minutes later, converting on a goalmouth scramble in the crease area to draw his team even in a 1-1 game.

Scoreless throughout the third period and into overtime, a pair of crucial penalty killing efforts by the North Stars – coming late in regulation and again in the final two minutes of overtime – kept it a tie contest into the shootout.

In the penalty shot relay, each of the first five shooters were stopped by the lights out netminders at either end, until Landen Stromme got the nod as Humboldt’s third shooter. Coming in hot, the forward lifted the puck top-shelf on a quick deke move in tight to win the game on the final shot of the night.

With the loss, the North Stars are now 5-5-0-1 on the season, though the team will have a chance to bounce back quickly against the same Broncos team (now 8-0-1) heading into Saturday night’s rematch in Humboldt.

Due to the Riders game on 1050 CJNB, the NAPA Auto Parts North Stars Broadcast will be available Saturday night on 93.3 Beach Radio with the Ultra Print Pregame Show at 6:30 p.m. and puck drop to follow at 7 p.m.

Scoring summary

First period

No scoring

Second period:

6:06 BAT Carson Olsen (3) ASST: Brad Blake, Jackson Allan 1-0 BAT

9:56 HUM Cage Newans (7) ASST: Ben Costantino 1-1 Tie

Third period:

No scoring

Overtime:

No scoring

Shootout:

BAT Ben Portner – No goal

HUM Spencer Bell – No goal

BAT Brad Blake – No goal

HUM Cage Newans – No goal

BAT Carson Olsen – No goal

HUM Landen Stromme – Goal (Shootout winner)

2-1 HUM, the final

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1