The North Stars lost 5-3 to the Melville Millionaires last night at the Access Communications Centre. (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

5-3 Loss

North Stars can’t mount comeback over Mills

Jan 24, 2025 | 6:16 AM

The Battlefords North Stars were back in action last night at the Access Communications Centre and ended up falling short 5-3 against the Melville Millionaires for the first time this season.

Things started out tough in the first period for the North Stars as the Mills scored three goals in the first 15 minutes, including one powerplay and one shorthanded to take an early 3-0 lead.

Battlefords was able to find some momentum going into the intermission though as Josh Knittig found the back of the net on the powerplay to make it 3-1 and lessen the deficit going into the second.

For the second period, the North Stars started to really find their stride, outshooting Melville 21 to 7 as well as getting two goals from Nikita Ivashchenko and Rylan Williams to tie it 3-3 going into the third.

For the third period, the Mills came out ready to play, scoring a quick goal to take back their lead and make it 4-3. Throughout the rest of period, the North Stars had tons of chances to score to tie the game and even take the lead but they just couldn’t seem to get the puck in the net.

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Then with just under five minutes left, the Mills got a powerplay and scored again to extend the lead to 5-3 and eventually went on to win the game.

The North Stars outshot the Millionaires 44 to 33, went two for six on the powerplay and stopped Melville four out of six times on the penalty kill.

Justen Maric stopped 28 out of 33 shots in the game.

The North Stars record is now at 20-14-3-2 on the season for 45 points, keeping them tied at 4th overall in the league.

The North Stars face off against the Mills again tonight at the Access Communications Centre. Tune into the game with the Napa Auto Parts North Stars Hockey Broadcast on CJNB/CJNS. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m. with Ultra Print pregame show starting at 7:00 p.m.

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austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes