North Stars' Brayden Sinclair faces off with Nipawin's Mark Lafleur. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Home-and-home Showdown

North Stars host Nipawin to kick off weekend series

Nov 24, 2023 | 2:46 PM

The Battlefords North Stars return to home ice Friday at the ACC for the first time in five games.

They’re set to host the Nipawin Hawks to kick off a home-and-home between the two sides this weekend.

The North Stars enter play first in the Nutrien Division and second overall in the league standings with a 16-7-0-1 record through 24 games. They are looking to bounce back quickly from a 3-1 loss to Melfort on Wednesday which snapped a league-high 10-game winning streak.

The Hawks are third in the Sherwood Division and fifth overall in the league standings with a 12-11-0-1 record through 24 games. They’re looking to extend their current winning streak to three straight, coming off wins over Melfort (2-1) and Melville (6-1).

Headlining the weekend matchup will be a pair of the most dynamic first-year defencemen in the league this season in 17-year-old blue-liners Ronan Buckberger of the Hawks and Carson Olsen of the North Stars.

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The younger of the Hawks’ Buckberger brothers, Ronan sits fourth amongst rookies this season with 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) through his first 24 games.

Olsen sits just a single point back with 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) in 23 games. Both defencemen are central to their team’s success, all 200 feet of the ice, as elite play drivers who are deployed in all game situations.

Special teams play could be a determining factor in the weekend series, as Nipawin enters Friday with the league’s second-best power play (23.8 percent) and penalty kill (87.7 percent). The North Stars are eighth on the PP (20.5 percent) and fifth on the PK (80.2 percent), though the team has been red-hot of late with the man advantage clicking at just over 27 percent over their last five games.

In goal, 19-year-old Ben Dardis will make his North Stars’ debut after being acquired by the team earlier in the week. Dardis posted a sparkling .940 save percentage in 29 games in his final season of high school hockey with his hometown Mahtomedi High in Minnesota, before spending the last two seasons split between Anchorage and Minnesota of the North American Hockey League.

Nipawin is likely to start one of Damon Cunningham or Tyson Endall. Cunningham is coming off a 43-save performance last Friday in Melfort and enters play with a 9-5-0-1 record to go with a .932 save percentage. Endall stopped 24 of 25 to backstop the Hawks to a victory in Melville on Tuesday and is 3-6-0-0 this season with a 3.75 goals against average with a .891 save percentage.

Friday’s game will be available on 1050 CJNB with the Ultra Print Pregame Show at 7 p.m. and puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @MartyMartyPxP1