The North Stars extended their winning streak to five straight Friday, with a 4-3 shootout win over the Weyburn Red Wings. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Friday night Hockey

North Stars top Weyburn for fifth straight in shootout thriller

Nov 10, 2023 | 11:29 PM

Sixty-five minutes of regulation and overtime wasn’t enough to determine a winner Saturday, in a thrilling 4-3 North Stars’ shootout win over the Weyburn Red Wings in North Battleford.

A 2-0 lead for the Battlefords just 14 minutes into the first period, on goals by Rylan Williams and Hunter Burgeson, Weyburn would get one back late in the opening frame from captain Max Monette on the power play to make it a 2-1 game at the first intermission.

In the second, after Wings’ forward Liam Fitzgerald knotted the score 2-2 early in the frame, Riley Girod added his seventh of the year to re-establish the Battlefords’ lead at 3-2, heading into the third period.

Monette’s second of the game was then the lone goal of the third, to again tie the score, sending the contest to overtime.

Despite a minute of power play time for the Wings in the extra session, the teams played the five-minutes of sudden death to a scoreless stalemate, bringing about a shootout to decide the fate of victory.

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After Wings’ forward Elijah Anderson cashed in early, the North Stars needed their third shooter, Brad Blake to score to keep his team alive in the penalty-shot relay.

Cruising on goal and snapping home a quick release to keep the shootout going, Blake’s goal set the stage for Jackson Allan’s eventual game-winner, which combined with a final save from Justen Maric to seal the victory for the North Stars.

Maric made 22 saves on 25 shots to backstop the North Stars in the win, while Dazza Mitchell stopped 38/41 at the other end.

With the victory, the North Stars improve to 11-6-0-1 through 18 games heading into Saturday night’s rematch against the Wings again in North Battleford.

Saturday’s game will be available on 93.3 Beach Radio. The Ultra Print Pregame Show will begin at 7 p.m. with puck drop at 7:30 p.m. on the NAPA Auto Parts North Stars Broadcast.

Scoring summary

First period:

3:15 BAT Rylan Williams (5) ASST: Josh Karman 1-0 BAT

14:00 BAT Hunter Burgeson (6) ASST: Riley Girod 2-0 BAT

19:15 WEY Max Monette (8) ASST: Tyler Teasdale, Jerome Maharaj 2-1 BAT

Second period:

1:46 Liam Fitzgerald (4) ASST: Blake Betson, Carter Briltz 2-2 Tie

4:36 BAT Riley Girod (7) ASST: Jackson Allan, Josh Karman 3-2 BAT

Third period:

8:43 WEY Max Monette (9) ASST: Jerome Maharaj, Nicholas Kovacs 3-3 Tie

Overtime:

No scoring

Shootout:

BAT Ben Portner – No goal

WEY Elijah Anderson – Goal

BAT Kian Bell – No goal

WEY Jerome Maharaj – No goal

BAT Brad Blake – Goal

WEY Max Monette – No goal

BAT Jackson Allan – Goal (Shootout winner)

WEY Jacob Visentini – No goal

4-3 BAT, the final

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @MartyMartyPxP1