By battlefordsNOW Staff

North Stars defeat Mils 4-1 on Hockey Day

Jan 21, 2018 | 3:20 AM

On a milestone night for its captain, the Battlefords North Stars topped the Melville Millionaires 4-1 on Hockey Day in Saskatchewan in Balcarres for their 30th victory of the season.

Layne Young had two goals, including the game-winner, in his 150th career game in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, which were the 75th and 76th tallies of his career.

“He brings it every practice, every game,” North Stars head coach Brandon Heck said in the post-game interview on CJNB/CJNS. “The point streaks that he’s had this year have been really impressive. It’s hard to score or get a point in 10 or 12 straight games. He faces tough ‘D’ competition…and he still finds a way to do it. He’s got a special mind. Very, very fortunate to coach him on and off the ice.”

Young continues to pace the SJHL this season, now with 25 goals and 49 assists for 74 points in 38 games. The Frenchmann Butte native is one point shy of tying his career-high with 20 games left this year. He has the two longest point streaks of any player this season at 14 and 12 games.

The biggest takeway from Saturday’s win was the North Stars ability to prevent chances against as the game went on.

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Their first period was so-so defensively, but in the second and third periods combined, Melville only managd 14 shots on goal, and the North Stars 2-1 lead never really seemed to be in question.

“I wasn’t as happy after last night’s [8-2 win]. Tonight I’m definitely more happy,” Heck said. “The ability to lock it down is something that it takes in the playoffs. I was unsure of our group’s ability to do that and they proved it tonight.

“We got better as the game went on.”

Heck said the team’s goal entering the third with a 2-1 lead was simply to prevent chances and not care about any sort of insurance goal (they did score two empty netters).

“We cared about defending and checking tonight,” Heck added. “Aside from a few penalties, we played unselfish. We made it a goal in the third period to lock it down. We didn’t care if we scored another one. We wanted to win 2-1.”

Meanwhile, North Stars goaltender Joel Grzybowski maintained his perfect record this season with a 23-save performance.

He is now 10-0 with a 1.65 goals-against-average and .935 save percentage.

Forward Keith Anderson and rookie Matthias Urbanski also scored: Anderson on a wrap-around to open the scoring for his 12th of the season, and Urbanski into an empty net for his 17th.

Melville goaltender Colby Entz was phenomenal in net with 42 saves on 44 shots.

Heck said the lack of finish played into that, particularly on the power play, which went 0-for-6 and is now just 1-for-21 in the last four games.

“We hit him in the stomach a lot,” Heck said. “When the puck comes to you, you’ve got to be ready to shoot. Now, we’re at the point where just getting that shot off is not good [enough]. You’ve got to put it in the net. We’ve got too much skill. We need to score a power play goal a game. It comes down to that.”

The North Stars are now 30-6-2 this season and have a tough week on the horizon.

They travel to Kindersley on Tuesday to play their make-up game from Dec. 30, and then head to Melfort on Wednesday. On Friday, they host the league-leading Nipawin Hawks, and on Saturday they travel to Spiritwood for a neutral zone game with the La Ronge Ice Wolves.

cjnbsports@jpbg.ca

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