By Nathan Kanter

North Stars bounce back against Millionaires

Sep 22, 2016 | 6:58 AM

It was the rebound win the team needed on Wednesday night, as the North Stars rolled into Melville and took down the Millionaires 4-1, just one night after losing big to Yorkton.

With the victory, the North Stars improve to 3-1-0 on the season.

The team buzzed around Melville’s crease, drove hard to the net and made life difficult for goaltender Brandon Wells. Because of the crease crashing, Melville got frustrated and took penalties – 12 to be exact. Finally, because of 12 power-play opportunities, North Stars goalie Joel Gryzbowski didn’t have a difficult night, and was able to provide the consistent goaltending the team badly needed on Tuesday.

“It’s always good to rebound,” North Stars head coach Nate Bedford said after the win. “You certainly never want to lose two games in a row and I think that’s something we’re really going to pride ourselves in, is when we do have a rough game we’re going to bounce back.”

Right from the get go, it was clear one thing was on the mind of all Battlefords players: get in front of the goalie and go hard to the net.

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“I think that when you’re going to the net with your stick on the ice and you’re puck hungry and you’re net hungry, I think good things usually happen,” Bedford said. “Now we just have to do a good job of making sure that we stay careful defensively so that we don’t give up odd man rushes if thing don’t go in.”

The power-play opportunities started out slowly, but the North Stars didn’t care, notching two goals on their first three tries on the man advantage. They drew a couple more penalties in the middle frame before receiving a whopping seven power-plays in the third – including three straight 5-on-3s to end the game.

This ensured the Millionaires comeback would fall well short of the mark, as their undisciplined play ultimately led to their downfall.

Layne Young once again had a standout game for the North Stars getting his team on the board first with a power-play marker after he went right around a defender and drove to the net. Levi Kleiboer notched the second power-play goal of the period on a slapper from the point but the biggest goal of the night was the only one scored at even strength.

That goal came from Young yet again, as he did well to slip behind the defence and poke in a puck which bounced off the end boards and landed in the crease.

Futher standout performances came from the other two thirds of a new look top line including Reed Delainey and Connor Logan, who made up the first line with Young.

Logan had a goal and an assist, while Delainey had two helpers.

But it really was the performance of Gryzbowski that gave the North Stars confidence as the game went on. Few second chances were available for Melville and when they were, he came up big.

“I thought I made the saves that I had to,” Gryzbowski said following the win. “My rebound control in the first and second was really good. [In the] third period there were just a couple shots that I just kind of fumbled on but I was able to make the second save and it all turned out well.”

“Even when there were opportunities around our net, I thought he did a good job of controlling the play and he didn’t look erratic,” Bedford added, on Gryzbowski’s performance. “He was really solid and stood tall in net.”

The North Stars are sitting in a good spot as they get ready to host the Estevan Bruins on home ice on Saturday. Estevan is 2–0–0 so far this year.

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