By Nathan Kanter

North Stars show better effort in second win of season

Sep 18, 2016 | 9:18 AM

It may have been the same result – a win against the Kindersley Klippers – but the Battlefords North Stars put in more effort Saturday night in Kindersley for their second game of a home and home series.

Their Finning Division rival only mustered 24 shots on goal on Saturday at home, after posting 30 in Friday’s game, a tally North Stars head coach Nate Bedford said was just too many shots allowed.

With the win, the North Stars improve to 2-0 on the season, along with four other teams in the league: the Estevan Bruins, Flin Flon Bombers, Melfort Mustangs, and Weyburn Red Wings.

“I think you’ve got to credit our forwards,” associate coach Braeden Johnson said after the win. “They created a lot of scoring chances and we were lucky to [capitalize] on them.”

Goals came from a variety of sources as young additions Jeremy Velazquez and Owen Lamb found the score sheet, as well as veterans Reed Delainey and Keaton Holinaty.

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Lamb opened the scoring for the visitors, as the North Battleford native and former AAA Stars winger crashed the net for his first career Junior A goal.

But Lamb wasn’t the only one to hit that milestone, as later in the period Chicago native Velazquez scored his first career Junior A goal as well.

Then, early in the second, the Klippers came back quickly from a 2-0 deficit, scoring first on a beautiful shot from captain Carson Pickett, before Brendan Wagner tied it at two on a man advantage.

But Velazquez was back at it again, as just two minutes later he was Johnny on the spot in the slot, burying one past goaltender Justen Close to give the North Stars the lead again. Delainey added an insurance marker in the third and Holinaty landed another insurance goal on an empty netter – his first goal as a North Star – to seal the deal.

Velazquez’ two-goal performance, including the game-winner, was without a doubt the biggest storyline on Saturday.

“Scoring that [first] goal, it just gave me chills,” Velazquez said after the game. “It was awesome. I loved it. The guys got me hyped up on the bench afterwards. That’s kind of how I got out there and scored my second one.”

Velazquez said being scratched for the North Stars home opener was motivation for his strong performance.

“Being scratched yesterday for the first game – it made me want to get out there even more,” he said. “I had to prove myself to coach tonight and that’s kind of why my performance was the way it was tonight.”

“I think he played great. He responded,” Johnson added. “Obviously he wasn’t able to make the starting lineup and we got him in tonight and I think he responded very well… He’s dedicated to the game and obviously it showed in tonight’s game so you’ve got to give him credit.”

Moving forward, the North Stars don’t have too much time to rest before they’re right back at it, beginning on Tuesday in Yorkton, followed by a Wednesday meeting with the Melville Millionaires in Melville.

“It’s going to be our first time seeing either team in the league,” Johnson said. “Obviously you scoreboard watch a little bit but again the important thing is to focus on us and how we can improve as a team.”

Both road games can be heard live on NorSask North Stars radio on CJNB/CJNS with the Ultra Print pre-game show getting underway at 7:15.

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11