Kian Bell scored his second career playoff hat trick Tuesday, in just his second season suiting up with the North Stars. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Take 3-0 series lead

Bell nets hat trick in five-point night to lead North Stars to Game 3 win

Mar 27, 2024 | 2:17 AM

Just a week after being named the first-ever consecutive MVP in SJHL history, Battlefords North Stars’ forward Kian Bell added another dazzling performance to his ‘greatest hits’ catalog, scoring a hat trick and five points Tuesday, in a North Stars’ Game 3 win in Melville.

Picking up a point on each of his team’s five goals in a 5-3 triumph, the dynamic winger proved instrumental in a resilient effort by the Stars, to battle back from a multi-goal deficit twice over the course of the night, trailing 2-0 at the end of the first and 3-1 less than five minutes into the third.

“We’re a third-period team, so going into the locker room for the second intermission [with a power play to start the third], we were super confident,” Bell said postgame. “We knew the third period’s our best, and we able to go out there and show it.”

North Stars teammates celebrate following Tuesday’s Game 3 win. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Melville’s Hudson Norris and Bradley Banach scored in the opening period to give the Millionaires a 2-0 lead early, before Bell’s first of the night got the Stars on the board midway through the second.

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A 2-1 game into the third, the North Stars again faced adversity when Eliott Mikesch made it 3-1 in the opening minutes of the final frame. However, still unperturbed, the Battlefords would again respond, this time on a Portner deflection of a Tanner Gold shot from the point.

Now back to within a single trailing 3-2, Elijah Anderson notched his first of the playoffs on a power play marker to knot the score, setting the table for Bell’s second of the night to take the lead less than five minutes later on a highlight-reel deke move.

“I saw we had a three-on-two and Brad [Blake] made a really nice play to drop it and take that Dman out of the play,” Bell recalled. “That made it a 2-on-1 and the [other defender] just kind of came flying out at me, so I just went around him and then went forehand, backhand, five-hole.”

Bell’s hat trick tally into the empty-net late made it 5-3, to solidify the victory and give the Battlefords a 3-0 series lead in the best-of-seven, to move just a win away from advancing to the SJHL semifinals.

The North Stars will get their first chance to close out the series Wednesday night in Game 4, in Melville. The NAPA Auto Parts North Stars Broadcast will be available Wednesday on 1050 CJNB, with the Ultra Print Pregame Show at 6:30 p.m. and puck drop to follow at 7 p.m.

In other Game 3 action around the SJHL Tuesday, the #1 Flin Flon Bombers topped the #8 Kindersley Klippers 5-2 (FF leads series 3-0); the #7 Estevan Bruins edged the #2 Melfort Mustangs 4-3 (MLF leads series 2-1); and the #6 Weyburn Red Wings beat the #3 Humboldt Broncos 5-3 (HUM lead series 2-1).

Scoring summary

First period:

6:08 MLV Hudson Norris (1) ASST: Bradley Banach, Luc Bydal 1-0 MLV

17:23 MLV Bradley Banach (1) ASST: Hudson Norris 2-0 MLV

Second period:

10:19 BAT Kian Bell (3) ASST: Bradley Blake, Ben Portner 2-1 MLV

Third period:

4:11 MLV Eliott Mikesch (1) ASST: Joel Mabin 3-1 MLV

7:30 BAT Ben Portner (2) ASST: Tanner Gold, Kian Bell 3-2 MLV

12:19 BAT Elijah Anderson (1) ASST: Carson Olsen, Kian Bell 3-3 Tie

17:08 BAT Kian Bell (4) ASST: Bradley Blake 4-3 BAT

18:12 BAT Kian Bell (5) ASST: None 5-3 BAT

5-3 BAT, the final

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @MartyMartyPxP1