Thursday night marked the North Stars' first home game since Oct. 20, following four straight (and six of their last seven) on the road. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

North Stars rolling!

North Stars top Terriers 9-2 for third straight

Nov 2, 2023 | 11:52 PM

The Battlefords North Stars made a triumphant return to home ice Thursday night at the ACC, bringing the home crowd to their feet early and often with jubilant applause in a 9-2 win over the Yorkton Terriers.

Marking the second time in as many games the North Stars have scored nine on the night en route to victory, the team hit the ground running early in the contest and never looked back, with seven different goal scorers and all four offensive lines contributing with at least a single goal on the night.

The top line of Kian Bell (one goal, three assists), Ben Portner (two goals, two assists), and Brad Blake (one goal, two assists) combined for 11 points on the night to lead the way, while Riley Girod (two goals, one assist) and Rylan Williams (two assists) also cashed in with multi-point games to headline the scoring.

“The guys were able to put the puck in the net and it was nice to see [the offensive contribution] spread out too,” head coach, Brayden Klimosko said postgame. “The guys have got some confidence right now and hopefully we can bring that into tomorrow.”

Hunter Burgeson’s opening goal was one of two power play markers for the Battlefords on the night, giving the team an early 1-0 lead just 4:26 into play, on their first man advantage.

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After Yorkton’s Cade Kennedy tallied his fifth to respond just past the midway mark of the frame, Andrew Casellato’s second, and Portner’s fifth – on a highlight-reel solo rush beating two defenders then the goalie – came consecutively to put the North Stars back in the driver’s seat, leading 3-1 at the end of the first.

In the second period, Girod’s fifth was also a beauty, going bar-down to stretch the lead to 4-1. It was followed up by Gavin Granger’s first of his SJHL career to blow the game open at 5-1 with eight minutes to go in the middle frame.

Aiden Knutson’s seventh of the campaign got Yorkton their second goal on a power play just prior to the second intermission. However, trailing 5-2 is as close as the comeback bid would materialize.

Blake’s eighth of the season came on a strong-side one-timer in tight to make it 6-2 North Stars just 17 seconds into the third period, serving as the first of four unanswered by the team to close out the regulation time period.

Bell’s sixth came off a nifty pass by Blake while falling down for the assist, followed by Portner’s second of the night and sixth of the season as the second power play strike.

Girod capped the evening with his second of the game and sixth of the year, converting a slick pass form Rylan Williams, who had put the puck through the legs of a defender on his way to set up the goal.

Justen Maric backstopped the North Stars to victory with 29 saves on 31 shots, making a pair of breakaway stops with his glove hand in the first period, and another in the third to allow his team to pull away.

At the other end, Blake Sittler started the game for Yorkton, allowing four goals on 19 shots through the first half of the night. Backup, Adam Kelly then allowed five on 25 in relief.

With the win the North Stars improve to 9-6-0-1 on the season through 16 games, and leapfrog Weyburn into fourth overall in the league standings, though the Red Wings do sit just two points back with a pair of games in hand.

The Terriers fall to 4-8-1-1 on the season through 14 games, to now sit 11^th in the standings. Yorkton are now just two points up on 12^th place Notre Dame, though they do hold a game in hand on the Hounds.

The North Stars and Terriers will now get the rest of the night to rest up and regroup ahead of their return to play for night two of the teams’ back-to-back Friday, once again in North Battleford.

The NAPA Auto Parts North Stars Broadcast will be available on 1050 CJNB with the Ultra Print Pregame Show at 7 p.m. and puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m.

Scoring summary

First period:

4:26 BAT Hunter Burgeson (5) ASST: Kian Bell, Bradley Blake 1-0 BAT

12:52 YOR Cade Kennedy (5) ASST: Dylan Ruptash, Clay Sleeva 1-1 Tie

13:39 BAT Andrew Casellato (2) ASST: Carson Olsen 2-1 BAT

19:50 BAT Ben Portner (5) ASST: Kian Bell, Alex Izyk 3-1 BAT

Second period:

7:39 BAT Riley Girod (5) ASST: Rylan Williams 4-1 BAT

12:00 BAT Gavin Granger (1) ASST: Riley Girod 5-1 BAT

17:21 YOR Aiden Knutson (7) ASST: Quintin Unreiner 5-2 BAT

Third period:

0:17 BAT Brad Blake (8) ASST: Ben Portner, Kian Bell 6-2 BAT

3:49 BAT Kian Bell (6) ASST: Brad Blake, Ben Portner 7-2 BAT

9:59 BAT Ben Portner (6) ASST: Jackson Allan, Jordan Grill 8-2 BAT

15:11 Riley Girod (6) ASST: Rylan Williams 9-2 BAT

9-2 BAT, the final

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1