North Stars defenceman, Tanner Gold is locked in opposite La Ronge's Mason Bueckert for a faceoff in the Stars' zone, Monday. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Pre-season action

North Stars top Ice Wolves 3-1 at Flying Dust

Sep 11, 2023 | 11:14 PM

It may have been an early September pre-season game, but hockey fans at Flying Dust First Nation got a show well worth the price of admission Monday night at Pineridge Ford Arena.

Taking part in their first non-Rookie Game pre-season contest, the Battlefords North Stars topped the La Ronge Ice Wolves 3-1 in a hotly-contested matchup that saw both teams hit the ground running, with no shortage of animosity in addition to the swift pace of play.

Parker Leyton opened the scoring for the Ice Wolves just under 7:30 into the first period, on a shot from the blue line that found its way through traffic for an early power play marker to make it 1-0.

The lead stood until just under five minutes to go in the period, when Ben Portner scored his first of the exhibition schedule to answer back for the Stars on a deft touch driving the net, to knot the score 1-1 off a feed from Evan Waldie.

While the second period may not have resulted in any goals, what it lacked in finished scoring chances, it more than made up for with the extra-curriculars, as the teams combined for 68 minutes in penalties over the middle frame.

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Among the dust-ups was a gloves-on fight between Stars’ defenceman Dayne Henry and La Ronge forward, Bronson Babyak, followed later by another attempted scrap between Jordan Grill and Ice Wolves forward Brody Scopick.

In the third, Riley Girod scored just over seven minutes in to give the Stars their first lead of the night on the eventual game-winner, before Grill sealed the victory with an empty-netter in the final six seconds, after withstanding some strong La Ronge pressure pushing for a tying goal.

Both teams rotated their goaltenders midway through the second period. Emmett Dixon stopped eight of nine shots through the first 30 minutes of the game, before Cedric Cyr-Dauphinais came in, stopping all 14 shots he faced over the back-half of the night for the Battlefords.

At the other end, Topher Chirico made 14/15 saves through 30 minutes, while Karl Soneff made 10/11 stops over the second half for La Ronge.

The North Stars will return to pre-season action Tuesday night in Humboldt, against the Humboldt Broncos. Puck drop will be at 7 p.m.

The North Stars’ pre-season games will not be broadcast on 1050 CJNB. The radio broadcasts will begin with the start of the regular season, Sept. 22.

Scoring summary

First period:

7:28 LAR Parker Leyton (1) ASST: Mason Bueckert (PP) 1-0 LAR

15:04 BAT Ben Portner (1) ASST: Evan Waldie 1-1 Tie

Second period:

No scoring

Third period:

7:17 BAT Riley Girod (1) ASST: None 2-1 BAT

19:54 BAT Jordan Grill (1) ASST: Colton Getzlaff (EN) 3-1 BAT

3-1 North Stars, the final

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1