By Martin Martinson

North Stars fall in tough one to Mustangs

Nov 13, 2018 | 10:11 PM

The Battlefords North Stars fell 4-1 to the Melfort Mustangs Tuesday night at the Civic Centre.

Mustangs leading scorer, Justin Ball, opened the scoring for the visitors, potting his 18th goal of the season just over five minutes into his twenty-first game.

The goal came less than a half-minute into the Mustangs` opening power play opportunity, with the blue, green and white living up to their reputation of power play prowess heading into the contest. Melfort had boasted the highest success rate in the league with the extra man entering the evening, clicking along at nearly 25 per cent.

Ball`s opening goal would see no rebuttal in the first, with the period drawing to a close at 1-0 Mustangs, despite a decided 15-2 shot advantage the way of the Stars.

Not quite 4 minutes into the second period, the Mustangs again struck early, thanks to Braeden Young`s first of the season. For the 17-year-old, the goal also marked Young`s first career SJHL tally.

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Justin Ball soon struck again to make it 3-0 Melfort just past the half-way mark of the second, with a snapshot on the fly beating a stunned Stars` netminder, as the puck exploded off the veteran scorer`s blade, and into perfect order upon the top shelf of the Stars` goal.

Down by a field goal, but outshooting the opposition by over a dozen, the Stars continued to press, refusing to allow Ball`s second marker to be the straw that breaks the camel`s back. The North Stars kept chipping away, desperate for a spark to ignite their scoring flare.

Regan Doig was the man to finally break through, bringing his team back to within a couple before the end of the second, thanks to a determined effort that saw the six-foot-two power forward bull his way to the front of the Melfort goal, jamming the puck through the legs of the goalie.

The goal was Doig`s fourth of the season, with Brett Gammer and Austin Shumanski picking up the assists.

Despite a further push in the third, Zack Smith put the game away at the 12:55 mark of the period to cement his team`s victory.

Melfort goaltender Shawn Parkinson made 34 saves on the 35 shots he faced for the win.

The North Stars outshot the Mustangs 35-19 on the night.

The North Stars will now get a bit of time to rest up and regroup before heading into a three-game in three night weekend that will kick off Friday at home against Flin Flon. Pregame will begin at 7:15 p.m. with puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m. on 1050 CJNB.

Scoring summary

First period:

5:33 MLF Justin Ball (18) ASST: Kayle Tosh (21), Zach Anderson (8) (PP)

Second period:

3:45 MLF Braeden Young (1) ASST: Kyle Schneider (3), Alex Rondeau (3)

12:02 MLF Justin Ball (19) ASST: Boedy Donald (4)

16:09 BAT Regan Doig (4) ASST: Brett Gammer (4), Austin Shumanski (2)

Third period:

12:55 MLF Zack Smith (3) ASST: Jake Hobson (10), Braeden Young (1)

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1