By Martin Martinson

North Stars loot Millionaires for bounce back win

Nov 10, 2018 | 10:36 PM

The Battlefords North Stars defeated the Melville Millionaires 7-4 Saturday night to improve to 3-1-1 to start November.

Owen Lamb opened the scoring on the first shift of the game, deflecting a Cody Spagrud shot from the point into the opposition goal before the Millionaires even knew they were in a game, with the tally coming just 19 seconds into play. For Lamb, the goal marked his first on the night and twelfth of the season.

Max McPeak tied things at 1-1 later in the first period, when, coming off an initial jam play at the side of the North Stars’ net, the forward managed to scoop the puck over the goalie, and into the twine, knotting things up for the visitors before the end of the period.

The Stars, however, would not close out the opening frame, without first reestablishing their place in the driver’s seat, thanks to a dazzling display from veteran Braydon Buziak.

Buziak, jetting his way in on the attack from the neutral zone in, challenged the defenseman wide, down the right-side boards. Cutting his way in front, the Stars’ alternate captain then proceeded to launch a backhander to the far side of the net, clanking off the post and in. 2-1 for the home team.

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Ryan Gil made it 3-1 just passed the half-way mark of the second, after depositing an Elijah Loon-Stewardson rebound right out front, with defenseman Matthew Fletcher picking up the other assist. The goal was Gil’s eighth of the campaign.

Josh Borynec got his team back to within a goal about five minutes later off another goalmouth scramble, but that’s ultimately as close as the Millionaires would come; down by a goal heading into the third.

Quintin Loon-Stewardson kicked off the scoring in period three, providing his club with an insurance marker at 4-2. For Loon-Stewardson, the goal marked his fourth in his last five games.

Less than two-and-a-half minutes after the 4-2 benchmark, Braydon Buziak once again came up large for his team, firing home his second goal of the night. Just like that, the game was starting to run away on the Millionaires.

That was, of course, until the youngest and smallest player on either side, in 16-year-old, Tristan Shewchuk, piped up with back-to-back strikes to drag his team once again into the fight, at 5-4.

Down by only a single shot of tying the game, it would be a fortuitous bounce that would ultimately put the North Stars faithful in attendance back comfortably from the edge of their seats to close out the game.

With the goaltender pulled and the desperation evident from the visitors, a miscalculated pass from a Melville teammate to a vacated point position up high in the zone, turned into a nightmare for the moneymen quickly, as the puck slid all the way down the ice and into the empty net. The unintentional friendly fire would be credited to Buziak, as he was the last Stars’ player to touch the puck, giving the Kindersley product his first hattrick of the season.

Just for good measure, and almost serving as poetic, Owen Lamb, the man who started the scoring, would also be the man to finish it, scoring an empty-netter of his own to give himself three points on the night, and his linemate, Buziak, five on the evening.

The 7-4 final also gave goaltender Adam Dmyterko his second win of the season, as the netminder made turned away 21 of 25 shots against, to cement his team’s victory.

The North Stars will now get a bit of time to rest up, before hitting the ice once again Tuesday night at the Civic Centre, as the team welcomes the Melfort Mustangs to town. Pregame will be at 7:15 p.m. with puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m.

Scoring summary

First period:

0:19 BAT Owen Lamb (12) ASST: Cody Spagrud (12), Braydon Buziak (9)

14:37 MLV Max McPeak (3) ASST: Aidan Steinke (6), Sam De Melo (6)

15:21 BAT Braydon Buziak (6) ASST: Cody Spagrud (13)

Second period:

11:49 BAT Ryan Gil (8) ASST: Elijah Loon-Stewardson (12), Matthew Fletcher (7)

16:23 MLV Josh Borynec (4) ASST: Daniel Liberty (4), Sam De Melo (7)

Third period:

2:26 BAT Quintin Loon-Stewardson (4) ASST: MacGregor Sinclair (16), Cody Spagrud (14)

4:51 BAT Braydon Buziak (7) ASST: Owen Lamb (8), Matthew Fletcher (8)

7:59 MLV Tristan Shewchuk (4) ASST: John Eliiot (1) (PP)
11:20 MLV Tristan Shewchuk (5) ASST: Josh Borynec (4)

18:34 BAT Braydon Buziak (8) ASST: None (EN)

19:34 BAT Owen Lamb (13) ASST: Braydon Buziak (10), Matthew Fletcher (9) (EN)

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1