Stars top Bombers 4-2; take 2-0 series lead in best-of-seven

Southgate’s first of the night and second of the playoffs made it 1-0 Stars early in the first, coming just shy of the 6:00 mark, on a snipe short-side while blazing down the wing in textbook Southgate style.

The 19-year-old then cashed again for his second of the night, and third of the playoffs exactly three minutes later on a North Stars power play. Receiving a cross-crease pass on the tape from Ryland McNinch in-tight, Southgate made no mistake converting from just outside the blue ice to make it 2-0 Stars, not yet midway through the first.

Jacob Vockler answered back for the Bombers with just under four minutes to go in the opening frame, cutting his team’s deficit to 2-1, on a rocket-shot set up directly off a clean offensive-zone faceoff win by teammate, Drew Kuzma.

However, that is as close as Flin Flon would come, as the Stars pulled away in the scoring in the second, cashing in for a pair of goals to stretch their lead to 4-1 through 40 minutes.

First, Prymak’s goal came off a stout forechecking play to intercept a breakout pass in the mid-slot area, snapping a shot home in the blink of an eye for his first of the postseason. Kesslering’s second of the weekend – and second on the power play – then made it a three-goal game heading into the final period.

Dace Prymak returned to the Stars lineup Saturday and wasted no time, scoring a pivotal goal for the team in their Game 2 win. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Following Kesslering’s goal at the 11:41 mark, Flin Flon’s leading scorer – and favorite for SJHL Top Defenceman – Xavier Lapointe was assessed a 10-minute misconduct as mounting frustrations began to boil over on the Bombers’ side.

The animosity continued to percolate into the third period, as Brett Wieschorster and Emmett Wurst were given offsetting 2:00 minors for Roughing after the whistle, though the scoring was held to a minimum.

Despite a few good looks for either side, the third period saw just a single goal, scored in the final 37 seconds on the power play by Bombers’ blue liner, Rylan Thiessen to make it a 4-2 Stars final.

At the end of the night, the Bombers led the shot count by a negligible margin, 33-31, as Bombers’ goalie Cal Schell stopped 27 of 31 shots on the night.

The Stars and Bombers will now look ahead to Game 3, as the series shifts to Flin Flon for back-to-back games Tuesday and Wednesday night at the Whitney Forum. The NAPA Auto Parts North Stars Hockey Broadcast will be available on 1050 CJNB, with the Ultra Print Pregame Show at 6 p.m., and puck drop to follow at 6:30 p.m.

The North Stars are the only team to hold a 2-0 series lead at the end of the night, as in other Game 2 action around the SJHL Saturday, (#1) Estevan beat (#8) Notre Dame 4-1 to even their series 1-1, and (#7) La Ronge topped (#2) Humboldt to even their series 1-1, while Yorkton beat Melfort 4-3 in double overtime to knot their series 1-1 as well.

Scoring summary

First period:

5:53 BAT Jake Southgate (2) ASST: None

8:53 BAT Jake Southgate (3) ASST: Ryland McNinch (1), Colby Bear (2) (PP)

16:16 FF Jacob Vockler (2) ASST: Drew Kuzma (1)

Second period:

2:07 BAT Dace Prymak (1) ASST: None

11:41 BAT Steven Kesslering (2) ASST: None (PP)

Third period:

19:23 FF Rylan Thiessen (1) ASST: None (PP)

4-2 North Stars final; Stars lead series 2-0

—

Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1

by Martin Martinson

Stars top Bombers 4-2; take 2-0 series lead in best-of-seven

What's Trending