One of the best traditions in sport: Following a hard-fought series, SJHL MVP Kian Bell of the North Stars, and Top Defenceman Noah Houle of the Bombers meet in the post-series handshake line. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Hard-Fought series

North Stars season comes to an end with Game 4 loss to Bombers

Apr 10, 2024 | 1:34 AM

The Battlefords North Stars left it all on the ice Tuesday night at the ACC, as the team saw their season come to an end with a 5-1 defeat to the Flin Flon Bombers in Game 4 of their SJHL semi-finals series.

Flin Flon saw five different players score on the night to take the game and the best-of-seven series with it, in a four straight.

Hunter Burgeson scored the lone goal for the North Stars in the first period of play, registering his fourth of the playoffs, while goaltender Logan Cunningham continued his lights out play with 32 saves on the night.

A 2-1 Bombers’ lead at the end of the first, and 3-1 advantage at the end of two, the game remained a two-goal contest for much of the night with the North Stars giving it all they had.

Anthony Piccininno’s second of the playoffs stretched the lead to 4-1 Bombers with less than five minutes to go in regulation, to all but seal the game, followed by an empty netter by Adam McNutt to ice the contest for good.

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North Stars teammates gather together one final time on-ice postgame, following the conclusion of the series. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

With the series now decided, the #1-seeded Flin Flon Bombers will advance to the SJHL Final, where they await the victor of the other semi-final series, between the #2 Melfort Mustangs and #3 Humboldt Broncos.

In other semi-final action around the league Tuesday, the Broncos edged out the Mustangs 3-2 in triple-overtime, on a power play goal by Humboldt captain, Cage Newans, to give the Broncos their first win of the series (MLF leads series 2-1).

Stay tuned to battlefordsNOW over the coming days and weeks, for more North Stars stories, from season reflections to team news as it happens, commitment updates, and team events.

Scoring summary

First period:

0:33 Koen Senft (3) ASST: Jacob Vockler 1-0 FF

11:19 BAT Hunter Burgeson (4) ASST: Brayden Sinclair, Tanner Gold 1-1 Tie

13:11 FF Justin Lies (9) ASST: Alexi Sylvestre, Noah Houle 2-1 FF

Second period:

11:41 FF Matt Egan (3) ASST: Riley Niven, Kylynn Olafson 3-1 FF

Third period:

15:53 FF Anthony Piccininno (2) ASST: Carter Anderson, Justin Lies 4-1 FF

16:10 FF Adam McNutt (2) ASST: Kylynn Olafson 5-1 FF

5-1 FF, the final

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @MartyMartyPxP1