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North Stars forward Ben Portner battles with Melfort's Austin Shepherd. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)
Wednesday night Hockey

North Stars fall 3-1 in Melfort, see streak snapped at 10 straight

Nov 22, 2023 | 11:45 PM

The Battlefords North Stars fell 3-1 Wednesday night in Melfort, as the Mustangs handed the team their first loss since Oct. 26 in Weyburn, snapping their league-high winning streak at 10 straight.

Melfort’s Ryan Duguay opened the scoring to make it 1-0 Mustangs late in the first, going bar-down on the backhand for his league-high 19th of the season. Wyatt Day’s fifth then extended the lead to 2-0 as the lone goal of the second, to give his team an insurance marker at the end of 40 minutes.

David Coyle, who set up Duguay’s opening goal, then stretched the lead to 3-0 Melfort just under eight minutes into the third period, to crank up the temperature on the Battlefords in their push to get back in it late.

Late in regulation, Kian Bell scored his 12th of the season to get the North Stars on the board on a 5-on-3 power play, though trailing 3-1 is as close as the team would come despite some nice looks late with extra attacker.

Despite the loss, the North Stars remain atop the division and second overall in the league standings, now 16-7-0-1 on the season through 24 games.The team will return to play Friday for their first game of what will be a home-and-home with the Nipawin Hawks this weekend.

The North Stars will host the Hawks Friday night at the ACC, with the NAPA Auto Parts North Stars Broadcast available on 1050 CJNB. The Ultra Print Pregame Show will begin at 7 p.m. with puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m.

Scoring summary

First period:

18:17 MLF Ryan Duguay (19) ASST: David Coyle, Aidyn Hutchinson 1-0 MLF

Second period:

6:50 MLF Wyatt Day (5) ASST: Kaleb Binner 2-0 MLF

Third period:

7:56 MLF David Coyle (10) ASST: Ryan Duguay, Aidyn Hutchinson 3-0 MLF

12:09 BAT Kian Bell (12) ASST: Tanner Gold, Alex Izyk 3-1 MLF

3-1 MLF, the final

Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @MartyMartyPxP1