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North Stars ‘Klip’ Kindersley in rivalry showdown

Nov 24, 2018 | 10:21 PM

The Battlefords North Stars defeated the archrival Kindersley Klippers Saturday night by a score of 4-2.

Special teams play proved to be a huge factor in Saturday night’s contest.

Blake Kleiner opened the scoring for the Klippers just over five minutes into the first on a Klippers’ 5-on-3 advantage, firing a shot through traffic in front to notch his first goal of the campaign. Ty Ennis and Caden Bensen picked up the assists on the scoring play.

The score would remain 1-0 for the visitors for much of the first, until inside the final five minutes of the frame, when Regan Doig answered back for the Stars on a power play opportunity of their own, giving fans in attendance a reason to stand up and applaud after firing a shot off the post and in on a power play goal, putting his team at even footing once again. Braydon Buziak and Cody Spagrud picked up the helpers on Doig’s fifth of the season.

The Klippers mined for retribution, however, scoring to re-establish their one-goal lead late in the period on another man-advantage tally, this time chalked home by forward Austin Nault.

The second period of play is where the North Stars truly turned up the heat, dominating large stretches of play both generating lengthy time on possession and several high-danger scoring chances, breaking through with a couple of goals to show for their efforts.

Quintin Loon-Stewardson’s sixth of the year made it a tie game, off a net-front scramble following some nice in-tight passing from Dylan Esau and Ryan Granville, who had jumped down from his point position, developing the play by putting the puck on goal initially.

The Stars’ first lead of the game came on the power play once again, from likely their most revered clutch scorer, Owen Lamb. Lamb, who entered the night’s game with a team lead 14 goals, scored his fifteenth at a critical point in the contest, with his marking the final indent on the second-period scorecard.

The team’s insurance marker came via Brett Gammer in the third. On the power play again, for their only opportunity in the third, Gammer’s deflection off a Fletcher shot on goal provided the team with their much sought after insurance marker, while also documenting the team’s third strike of the evening with the manpower advantage.

It was a special teams battle right to the core, with the North Stars ultimately going 3 for 9 on the power play, while Kindersley was 2 for 6 on the night.

Goaltender Joel Grzybowski made 31 stops on the 33 shots he faced in his return to action after getting Friday night off, while at the other end, Justen Close kept his team in the game throughout, stopping 32 of the 36 shots he faced.

The North Stars will now get some time to celebrate the victory and rest up before their next action Friday at the Civic Centre against another division-rival as they welcome the Notre Dame Hounds to town.

 

Scoring summary

First period:

5:18 KIN Blake Kleiner (1) ASST: Ty Enns (3), Caden Benson (8) (PP)

16:51 BAT Regan Doig (5) ASST: Braydon Buziak (14) (PP)

17:12 KIN Austin Nault (7) ASST: Blake Kleiner (8) (PP)

Second period:

2:21 BAT Quintin Loon-Stewardson (6) ASST: Dylan Esau (7), R. Granville (2)

10:55 BAT Owen Lamb (15) ASST: Braydon Buziak (15), Elijah Loon-Stewardson (14) (PP)

Third period:

2:21 BAT Brett Gammer (6) ASST: Matthew Fletcher (10), Elijah Loon-Stewardson (14) (PP)

4-2 Stars, Final

 

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1