Currently at 7th overall in the league, the North Stars have three big games this week (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook).

By Austin Mattes

North Stars Week Preview

Crunch time for North Stars with three games this week

Feb 18, 2025 | 2:06 PM

After coming off a weekend split against the Humboldt Broncos, the Battlefords North Stars currently sit at seventh overall in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) and second in the Nutrien Division with a 23-19-3-2 record for 51 points.

Now, with only nine games left in the regular season and only five points separating the fifth and eighth spot in the league, it’s crunch time for the North Stars as they will need to grab some points in their three games this week if they want to secure a solid playoff spot.

Tonight, the North Stars take on the SJHL’s #1 and defending champion, Melfort Mustangs at the Access Communications Centre with puck drop at 7:30 p.m.

This will be the fourth and final time the North Stars and Mustangs will play this season, with Melfort currently leading the season series 2-1. The last time these two teams played was on Jan. 7, when the North Stars won 3-1 at home and ended the Mustangs 17 game win streak.

Melfort’s record is currently at 38-7-0-0 on the season for 76 points, already clinching them a playoff spot. In terms of offence, the biggest threat by the Mustangs comes from their top two leading scorers, Reilly Kotai and Logan Belton. Kotai is the league’s fourth leading scorer with 27 goals and 28 assists for 55 points, while Belton isn’t far behind with 24 goals and 26 assists for 50 points.

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Despite having some great scorers though, the strongest part of the Mustangs game that the North Stars will need to overcome is their defence and goaltending. This season, the Mustangs have had the least goals scored against with 92 and right now are the only team in the league with under 100 goals against. On top of that, both their netminders Madden Mulawka and Kristian Coombs are both in the top four in the league in goals against average and save percentage.

Following the games against Melfort, the North Stars will then play back-to-back against the Kindersley Klippers on Friday, Feb. 21 and Saturday, Feb. 22. Friday’s game will be in Kinderlsey and Saturday’s game will be at the Access Communication Centre, with puck drop for both games at 7:30 p.m.

This will be the fifth and sixth time Battlefords and Kindersley will play each other this season, with the Klippers taking all four games so far. In the standings, Kindersley is eighth overall in the league and third in the Nutrien Division with a 22-21-2-2 record and is just three points behind Battlefords with 48.

The players to watch out for on the Klippers squad will be Zakery Anderson, Mason Bueckert and Dawson Karol. All three of them have been vital pieces to the Klippers success this season, not only offensively but defensively as well. Apart from them, Kindersley has an all-around solid team with a lot of hard workers and with the standings so tight, expect them to come out and play at full throttle against Battlefords.

For the North Stars, there is not one single key to success this week as they will need to play all around some of their best hockey of the season. From the small details to scoring goals, the North Stars must come out strong and play a full 60 minutes in all three games if they want to see some success and grab some points to make a jump in the standings before the playoffs.

Tune into all the action this week with the Napa Auto Parts North Stars Hockey Broadcast on CJNB/CJNS with Ultra Print pregame show starting half an hour prior to puck drop on all three nights.

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Ausitn.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes