The North Stars play La Ronge again tonight at the Access Communication Centre, puck drop at 7:30 PM. (Battlefords North Stars/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

Big Win Over La Ronge

North Stars shine against the Ice Wolves

Oct 5, 2024 | 12:21 PM

The Battlefords North Stars improved to 2-2 on the season on Friday after downing the La Ronge Ice Wolves 4-2 at the Access Communications Centre.

Battlefords came out to a slow start, having a hard time getting the puck out of their zone and struggled to find shots on goal. This resulted in La Ronge opening the scoring with a goal from Taite Donkin to go up, 1-0.

The North Stars finally started to find their footing as the period went on and with just under 4 minutes left in the frame, Jordan Grill found the back of the net with a beautiful shot from the top of the right circle, assisted by Owen Dyck and Rylan Williams, to tie the game.

Shortly after though, the Ice Wolves answered right back with a goal from Nathan Da Silva to take back the lead 2-1 going into the intermission.

In the second period, the North Stars took control, putting on a fury of shots and getting tons of possession time. Then, it was Colton Getzlaff at mid way point of the period who put one past La Ronge goaltender, Graham Brown, right at the door step to tie game 2-2, assisted by Josh Knittig and Braden Nienaber.

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The period continued on with the North Stars getting lots of good opportunities, out shooting the Ice Wolves 15-8 in the period, but they still couldn’t find the back of the net and the period ended all tied up.

For the third period, both teams were checking tightly and not giving an inch with hopes to win the game.

The Ice Wolves then had a huge chance to take the lead as a few back-to-back penalties from Battlefords gave them an extended power play that included a 5-on-3 for almost a full two minutes. The North Stars showed off their special team’s unit and were able to kill off power play to go back to even hockey.

The penalty kill is what the North Stars needed as it gave them a boost of momentum which resulted in a big goal from Nikita Ivashchenko, his first of the season, to give the North Stars a 3-2 lead with just under five minutes left to play.

Battlefords continued to pile on the pressure and ended up sealing the deal with an empty net goal from Elijah Anderson to take the game 4-2.

The North Stars out shot La Ronge 38-23, went 0/3 on the power play and stopped the Ice Wolves all five times on the penalty kill.

Netminder Matthew MacArthur really stepped up, stopping 21/23 shots and made some big saves at crucial points in the game.

The North Stars are at back at the Access Communications Centre Saturday to take on the Ice Wolves again. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m., you can catch the game with voice of the North Stars, Austin Mattes on 93.3 Beach Radio, pre-game show starts at 7:00.

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austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes