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North Stars top Bombers 4-3 in barn burner shootout

Oct 8, 2016 | 9:27 AM

Resilient is the best word to describe the North Stars’ 4-3 shootout win over the Flin Flon Bombers on Friday night.

It was a strong first period for the Stars, with a power play snipe from Levi Kleiboer and a rebound goal from Owen Lamb to put them up 2-0.

A late second period goal from Bomber forward Brandon Lesko left goaltender Taryn Kotchorek in pain momentarily, but the North Star netminder fought on, only to have the Bombers tie the game 37 seconds later.

Coming back from the tie is when the North Stars’ first sign of resiliency surfaced.

Just 15 seconds after allowing back-to-back goals in less than a minute, forward Brett Horn potted his second goal of the year from the slot. Captain Kendall Fransoo intentionally shot it wide so it could bounce off the end boards, where it landed on Horn’s stick.

“We definitely got tested having a two goal lead and they came back hard against us in the second,” Horn said following the game. “The boys showed how resilient we are.”

But the Bombers pushed back, tying the game at three halfway through the third to force the game to overtime.

The North Stars were shorthanded in their first overtime game of the year but they were resilient again, blocking shot after shot to end the penalty kill and force a shootout.

“We’re a selfless group. We really are,” North Stars head coach Nate Bedford said. “I do preach the little things. I think those things are important for life, which is working hard, sacrifice and doing what’s right for someone bigger than yourself and I think our guys enjoyed that. Our bench certainly gets up when Connor Sych is blocking five shots in a row and [Kendall Fransoo] is blocking three or four in that last penalty kill in the overtime period.”

Reed Delainey’s first shootout goal was called back due to hitting the crossbar, forcing the North Stars to recovery.

And once more they persevered, this time when Kendall Fransoo scored in the fourth round and Kotchorek stopped his fourth straight shooter.

Kotchorek’s shootout performance was particularly notable, as he didn’t bite on any of the four shooters he faced, sticking with each one of them every step of the way.

“The biggest thing is checking on whether they make the first move,” Kotchorek said on how to approach the shootout. “If you look at their eyes you can kind of tell if they’re looking to shoot or deke, so you just kind of play it by ear and battle it out.”

Bedford said he needed to remind the team how good they are down low in the offensive zone.

“We as a group talked about the fact that we’re not the best run and gun team in the league but if we get the puck low, we’re a lot better than we think we are,” he said. “I thought we did a good job of getting pucks low and using our big bodies and our speed and our intelligence.”

Despite Kotchorek’s strong performance, Joel Gryzbowski will be in net when the North Stars replay the Bombers on Saturday, Oct. 8.

 “We’ve got five games here in nine nights and … that’s a lot of road games,” Bedford said. “Both of them are playing really well and we’re going to split them this weekend. I think we’ve got a good 1-2 punch here so let’s not mess with it.”

NorSask North Stars radio get’s underway on CJNB/CJNS on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. with the Ultra Print pre-game show. Puck drop is set for 6:30 p.m.

 

 

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