North Stars improve to 3-2 on the season after beating La Ronge 4-3 last night. (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

North Stars Improve to 3-2

Nienaber seals the deal in win versus La Ronge

Oct 6, 2024 | 4:06 PM

It was a successful night of hockey for the Battlefords North Stars at the Access Communications Centre on Saturday as they prevailed over the La Ronge Ice Wolves, 4-3.

The North Stars came out strong as they opened up the scoring early with a goal from Anthony Campbell, assisted by Colton Getzlaff and Nikita Ivashchenko to take a 1-0 lead.

Then shortly after, Battlefords was able to get another one on the board, this time from rookie Bryce Boughen, his first of the season, assisted by Ivashchenko and Campbell to double the lead.

La Ronge didn’t let that discourage them though, as they were able to get a goal of their own to cut the deficit to one, coming from Jacob Cossette.

As the first period was coming to an end, the North Stars continued to send the puck deep and create good chances, eventually finding the back of the net once more with a goal from Jackson Allan on the power play to go up 3-1 heading into the second.

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For the middle frame, the Ice Wolves made some adjustments and really started to put the pressure on Battlefords, getting lots of offensive zone time. This led to La Ronge getting the only two goals in the period to tie the game 3-3. The goals came from Hudson Cameron and Rylan Silzer.

Both teams came out playing hard in the third period, but it was North Stars, Braden Nienaber who got an early goal in the period, assisted by Getzlaff and Sebastian Miles, to give Battlefords a 4-3 lead.

This early goal gave La Ronge lots of time to try and get one of their own and they really started to attack the North Stars defense.

In the final 10 minutes, it was the Ice Wolves who had a majority of the puck possession and they found lots of good chances to score, but the great defensive play by Battlefords in their own end held up till the final buzzer and the North Stars took the win, 4-3.

The North Stars outshot La Ronge 34-30 went 1/2 on the power play and stopped the Ice Wolves all three times on the penalty kill. Battlefords now has the best penalty kill unit in the league, only allowing one goal while being short-handed 17 times.

Netminder Matthew MacArthur made some big saves for Battlefords and stopped 27 of 30 shots.

This win improved the North Stars record to 3-2 on the season and now puts them on a three-game win streak after starting the season 0-2.

The North Stars are back on the ice Tuesday when they host the Notre Dame Hounds at the Access Communications Centre. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.
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austin.mattes@pattisonmedai.com

On X: @AustinMattes