By Martin Martinson

Ice Wolves freeze Stars, 3-1

Dec 7, 2018 | 12:21 AM

The Battlefords North Stars fell 3-1 to the La Ronge Ice Wolves in Pinehouse Thursday night.

For La Ronge the win marked their first in 15 games, snapping a 14-game losing streak that began Oct. 30th.

Ryan Gil opened the scoring in favor of the North Stars on the team’s first power play of the game.

Zipping the puck around the zone, the scoring play developed when MacGregor Sinclair wired a pass from the right-side corner in front to Urbanski, who then redirected it on goal, causing a rebound to pop right out front to Gil, who then deposited the puck passed the sprawling Ice Wolves’ goalie and in for his eleventh of the season.

Zach Bannister’s 15th of the campaign would tie it 1-1 later in the period, after Antonio Di Paolo’s blocked shot from the point ricocheted right to the 19-year-old who then made good on the secondary chance, increasing his team scoring lead further, and picking up his first point of the night.

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Bannister’s second point was an assist to return the favor to Di Paolo, this time on the power play.

After establishing a period of sustained pressure, Bannister moved the puck swifty from low-to-high to Stephon Perreault, who then relayed a feed to Di Paolo, who made no mistake on his shot, firing home his sixth of the year to give his team their first lead of the night.

Despite a strong surge in the third period, and some good chances in tight late, the North Stars would ultimately be unable to knock home the equalizer, with the Ice Wolves instead scoring an empty netter off the stick of Daunte Fortner to ice the cake on his team’s victory; 3-1 the final.

The North Stars will no aim to rebound quickly as they seek retribution tomorrow night, once again against the Ice Wolves, this time in La Ronge.

Fans of the Stars can catch all of the action on 1050 CJNB, beginning with the pregame show at 7:15 p.m. with puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m.

Scoring summary  

First period:

BAT Ryan Gil (11) ASST: Matthias Urbanski (18), M. Sinclair (23) (PP)

LAR Zach Bannister (15) ASST: Di Paolo (14)

LAR Di Paolo (6) ASST: Stephon Perreault (6), Zach Bannister (20) (PP)

Second period:

No scoring

Third period:

LAR Daunte Fortner (4) ASST: Unassisted (EN)

3-1 Ice Wolves, Final.

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1