The Battlefords North Stars moved into second place in the SJHL with a 6-1 win over the Melfort Mustangs (Ryan Lambert/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Ryan Lambert

North Stars win streak continues

North Stars win sixth straight with 6-1 victory over the Melfort Mustangs

Jan 10, 2026 | 11:29 PM

The fourth game in five days was maybe the most dominating performance of that stretch for the Battlefords North Stars (21-8-2-2, 1st in Nutrien Division), winning 6-1 on the road against the Melfort Mustangs (11-18-1-2, 3rd in UPL Division).

Just 51 seconds into the game, Alessio Nardelli put the puck off of a defender and in to get on the board quickly and make it 1-0 North Stars. Goaltenders Kaeden Serpa and Kason Kobelka stood tall for the rest of the period, and the North Stars took a 1-0 lead into the second.

Much like the first period, the North Stars started the second with a quick goal. On his 19th birthday, Linken Fisher walked into the zone and fired the puck past Kobelka to put the North Stars up 2-0 early in the frame.

Close to the halfway mark of the period, Gavin Granger brought the puck down the right side of the ice into the offensive zone before finding Josh Knittig in the slot for the one-timer to make it 3-0. With the goal, Knittig extended his league leading point streak to 10 games.

Knittig wasn’t done there. Just 14 seconds later, he grabbed a rebound in tight and tucked it for his second of the game to give the North Stars a 4-0 lead, which they took into the third period.

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A few minutes into the third, Alex Coventry gathered the puck at the point and scored his first goal as a North Star to make it 5-0 in the third.

The Mustangs broke up the shutout bid just 13 seconds later when Nolan Patterson scored from the slot to make it 5-1. A few minutes later, Fisher found Nardelli coming out of the box on a stretch pass, and Nardelli scored his second goal of the game on the breakaway.

The North Stars maintained the 6-1 lead for the rest of the period for the victory. While the team had great performances across the board, the star of the game for Battlefords was Serpa, who stopped 40 of the 41 shots that came his way.

The six-game win streak for the North Stars is their longest all season. The win put them ahead of the Weyburn Red Wings to move into second place in the SJHL. They will look to keep it going on Jan. 16 when they head into Warman to face the Wolverines.

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Ryan.Lambert@pattisonmedia.com