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North Stars impressive in shutout win over Mustangs

Sep 26, 2016 | 6:56 AM

The North Stars kicked off their 2016 SJHL showcase on Sunday evening by playing their best game of the season yet, by far.

In front of a number of college scouts and a decent crowd, the North Stars took down the defending champion Melfort Mustangs easily, by a score of 4-0.

The North Stars were able to find room to move in all three zones. They only allowed 16 shots on goaltender Joel Gryzbowski, while peppering Mustangs goalie Evan Plotnik with 48 shots.

“It’s about time we put 60 minutes in,” head coach Nate Bedford said following the win, which will count for two points in the regular season standings. “Our guys got better as the game went on. That’s been our problem. We talked about it yesterday … we’ve had one good one, one average and one awful [period] and you can’t win like that.

”Today was the first [time] that we actually played a full game. That was the most fun I’ve had since I’ve been here.”

There have been a couple of instances earlier in the season when the North Stars outshot their opponents but were actually out chanced, due to a high number of shots from the perimeter of the ice. On Sunday, the opposite was the case, as high quality chance, after high quality chance came the North Stars way.

Bedford said that he simplified his pre-game talk, telling the team to focus on just one thing.

“The goal was to limit odd-man rushes and we did that,” Bedford said. “I’m sure it’s the leadership crew saying it, not me, that did it.”

Veteran North Stars forward Reed Delainey, who had the first goal of the game and is a big part of that leadership, threw the compliment the other way, saying Bedford should get credit for making sure everyone was on the same page.

“Nate told us at the beginning to just focus on one thing and that was our odd-man rushes,” Delainey said. “He knows what he’s doing and we just had to listen. First time we did, I think.”

Perhaps one misleading stat on the scoresheet from Sunday would be the North Stars power play, which went 0-for-7 to begin the game, and ended up at 1-for-9 on the night. But that doesn’t tell the whole story, as Battlefords moved the puck well on the man advantage, creating chances in and around the net. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t as bad as the stats said.

“You’ve got to have faith in yourself when it comes to that kind of stuff,” Delainey said. “You might have a couple of bad power plays but you’ve just got to believe.”

Not lost in all the good news was one negative as star forward Layne Young took a nasty hit from behind halfway through the third period.

He needed assistance getting to the bench and eventually left the game for the dressing room. It’s unclear how serious the injury is at the moment, but everyone is hoping for a speedy recovery.

“It was good to see us win but sad to see Younger get hit there,” Delainey said.

The hit gave the North Stars a seven minute power play, as defenceman Braxx George was given a five minute major for checking from behind, plus two for roughing and a game misconduct.

That was when the North Stars made the Mustangs pay for their actions, as a flurry of three goals – one from Troy Gerein, one from Connor Logan and one from Keaton Holinaty – came in quick succession.

“The more you want it and the less the other team does, the better off you are,” Bedford said.  “Certainly nothing poor to say about Melfort, I just thought that we were a better team today and I think that was it.”

The North Stars have little time to rest before their next tilt, as they’ll take on the Melville Millionaires for the second time this season at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, in Warman once again.

The last time the two teams met was on Wednesday, Sept. 21, when the North Stars won 4-1 in Melville, thanks to a power play that went 3-for-12.

 

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