The North Stars beat the Kindersley Klippers 3-2 last night in Kindersley (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook).

By Austin Mattes

3-2 win

North Stars pull through in clash against Kindersley

Feb 22, 2025 | 5:11 AM

It was a barn burner last night for the Battlefords North Stars at the Inter Pipeline Arena in Kindersley as emotions were high and fights erupted, but in the end the North Stars ended up walking away with a 3-2 win over division rival, Kindersley Klippers.

Coming out for the first, it was North Stars’ Seth Dragan who opened up the scoring just five minutes in to take an early 1-0 lead.

Throughout the rest period, the North Stars played solid and held The Klippers at bay for as long as possible, but eventually Kindersley did answer back with not one but two goals to take a 2-1 lead late in the first.

Then as the period was winding down, Braden Nienaber gave the North Stars some momentum as he dropped the gloves with the Klippers Camden Cunningham, granting them both a game misconduct.

In the second period, the North Stars came out strong, finding some good chances and outshooting the Klippers 16 to 13 in the period but still they couldn’t find the back of the net. Kindersley also had their fair share of opportunities as well, including two power plays but couldn’t convert either and the period ended still at 2-1 in favour of the Klippers.

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For the third period, the North Stars finally kicked things into gear and just under five minutes in, Josh Knittig evened the score with a goal to make it 2-2.

Then just past the midway point of the third, Nikita Ivashchenko struck the nylon on a powerplay, extending his goal streak to 11 games and giving the North Stars the 3-2 lead. Battlefords was then able to hold on till the end of the game to grab their first win over Kinderlsey this season.

Following the final buzzer though, the build up throughout the game spewed over and all players on the ice let loose with multiple fights igniting and players getting physical. The referees eventually broke up all the chaos, making for an exciting end to the game.

The North Stars got outshot 36 to 32, went 1/3 on the powerplay and stopped Kindersley all four times on the penalty kill.

Justen Maric had a massive game for the team, stopping 32/36 shots.

Battlefords record now improves to 24-20-3-2 for 53 points on the season, keeping them at seventh overall and one point behind the Humboldt Broncos.

The North Stars have a rematch against the Klippers tonight, this time at the Access Communcations Centre with puck drop at 7:30 p.m.

Tune into the action with the Napa Auto Parts North Stars Hockey Broadcast on CJNB/CJNS. Ultra Print pregame show starts at 7:00 p.m.

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austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes