By Nathan Kanter

North Stars win again vs. Bonnyville Pontiacs

Sep 5, 2016 | 12:34 PM

Goals from five different players resulted in the second pre-season win in two nights for the Battlefords North Stars. They again downed the Bonnyville Pontiacs 5-2 at home on Sunday, Sept. 4.

Chance Adrian, Connor Logan, Jayden Nachtegaele, Logan Nachtegaele and Ryan Rosenberg all found the back of the net, while Dawson Rodin stopped 27 of 29 shots get to the win.

The North Stars dominated the ice early with a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.

The Pontiacs worked to close the gap with some serious snipes, but Logan’s third period goal was enough to seal the win.

North Stars head coach Nate Bedford commented following the win the second faceoff against the Pontiacs was “pretty identical” to their first.

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“We started out real strong and then we kind of faded away and got complacent,” he said. “The style of play that we have, which is a physical, fast, relentless style, is tiring. We’re not quite in good enough shape – we’re not in bad shape – we’re just not quite in good enough shape to play our style yet.”

Pontiacs head coach and general manager Rick Swan said that more than anything, playing against a team from another league has allowed his staff to make some tough personnel decisions they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to make.

“[The North Stars] were more ready early than us,” Swan said. “Our guys get a bigger test earlier on and that’s been great for us. Certainly [in] the first period, [they] showed a lot of life lessons to these guys about the game of hockey and about the junior A game.”

Indeed, it was the first period when the North Stars really took it to the visitors.

The shots after one frame were 20-5 in favour of the home side. At one point they were 11-0.

But a 4-0 lead at one point quickly turned to 4-2 in the third, something the players said they know can’t keep happening. 

“I don’t think we played 60 minutes,” North Stars forward Logan Nachtegaele said. “We had a goal to get 17 shots in the third because in the first period we had 20 shots and then we were slow in the second. But we didn’t achieve that goal because we were in the box.”

Logan Nachtegaele wasn’t the only Nachtegaele to score a goal Sunday. His second cousin Jayden Nachtegaele, two years younger, also put one into the back of the net.

Jayden’s father Keith Nachtegaele played for the North Stars in the late 1980’s. Jayden said it would be a really cool experience to add his name to the list of family members who have donned a North Stars jersey.

“I thought I’ve improved a lot since last year,” Jayden said. “I feel like I’m pretty close to making this team.”

It’s only a matter of days before Jayden will find out, as coach Bedford said cuts are coming soon.

“I think in the next couple days – the next 48, 72 hours – you’re going to see some roster moves and some hard ones,” Bedford said. “We kind of had an idea of what we were going to do tonight and then the game happens and you have to go back to the drawing board again.

The North Stars have Monday off to rest but on Tuesday they travel to Nipawin to take on the Hawks in their third preseason game.

Wednesday’s game against Nipawin in North Battleford has been cancelled because of logistical reasons but Friday and Saturday will see another home and home for the North Stars, this one against the Kindersley Klippers.

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11