By Martin Martinson

North Stars see power play success in loss to Klippers

Sep 16, 2018 | 8:22 AM

The Battlefords North Stars fell 3-2 to the Kindersley Klippers Saturday night, in an intense rivalry game that saw both sides play as though they were already in mid-season form.

Saturday’s contest was reminiscent of Friday’s game, with a scoreless tie for a majority of the opening period before the stalemate was broken by a Klippers’ goal.

Tyler Traptow opened the scoring at the 10:18 mark of the first to make it 1-0 for the hometown Klippers. The goal was unassisted, as Traptow stole the puck just inside the North Stars blue line and proceeded to throw a dazzling backhand-forehand move before sliding the puck past the outstretched goaltender into the open twine.

Josh Fletcher, the player who flushed salt in the North Stars’ wound on Friday by potting an empty-net goal with 0.4 seconds remaining, added to his notorious reputation amongst fans in the Battlefords area, scoring again in the second showdown, walking into the North Stars’ zone and letting a wrister go that just slipped under the arm of Stars’ goaltender Joel Grzybowski. The goal was a power play marker assisted by Will Van der Sloot and Clay Keeley.

After 40 minutes of play, it was the Klippers holding a two-goal advantage, but the Stars’ leading the shot-count 20 to 19. The margin continued to increase in favour of the Stars. 

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Not quite half-way through the third, MacGregor Sinclair broke through on the power play at the 8:40 mark using one of his patented wrist shots; with Matthias Urbanski picking up the assist, giving each of them their first point of the season.

Kindersley quickly responded just minutes later on a two-on-one. Kyle Bosch picked up the puck just inside his defensive-end and rushrf down-ice with Caden Benson. Bosch laid a saucer-pass on Benson’s tape for the insurance marker.

Ryan Gil scored his second goal in as many nights for the Stars off some nice puck movement that saw Owen Lamb find Sinclair, who in turn sent the puck to the California product to bring them back to within a shot of tying things up. The North Stars, with just 18.5 seconds on the clock, laid into the attack once again, but to no avail.

Despite the loss, there were some positives for the North Stars. Sinclair’s power-play marker was the team’s first strike with the extra man this season. With the top power-play unit no doubt feeling some confidence after the initial marker, Gil followed suit, helping lead the Stars to go 2-for-6 with the man advantage.

The North Stars will now shift their focus to Thursday when they welcome the Melfort Mustangs to town. Pregame starts at 7:15, with puck drop at 7:30.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Klippers, 10:18 – Tyler Traptow(1) ASST: None

Second Period

2-0, Klippers, 14:07 – Josh Fletcher(2) ASST: Will Van der Sloot(1), Clay Keeley(1) (PP)

Third Period

2-1, North Stars, 8:50 – MacGregor Sinclair(1) ASST: Matthias Urbanski(1) (PP)

3-1, Klippers, 15:02 – Caden Benson(1) ASST: Kyle Bosch(2)

3-2, North Stars, 19:32 – Ryan Gil(2) ASST: MacGregor Sinclair(1), Owen Lamb(1) (PP)

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1