By Nathan Kanter

North Stars diffuse Bombers for second straight game

Oct 9, 2016 | 9:19 AM

The follow up to Friday’s barn burner at the Whitney Forum was an equally entertaining and more physically demanding encore Saturday night with the North Stars walking away with their second consecutive win.

Though the final score was 3-0, it was a close game every inch of the way.

In the end, special teams were the difference, as the North Stars landed two power play goals, one from Connor Sych and one from Connor Logan.

“We’re still getting wins but we’re struggling to score and we needed to get our power play going,” head coach Nate Bedford said following Saturday’s win. “[Connor] Sych did a great job on the power play. He wasn’t trying to do anything too pretty. He was just getting pucks to the net tonight and I think a lot of doorstep goals this weekend is kind of what we’re made of right now.”

Sych was involved in both power play goals. The first was a point shot which bounced off the post, landed in the crease and then somehow found its way into the back of the net. It looked like it may have bounced off the goalie and gone in, but it was tough to see what exactly happened because of the action happening the crease.

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Even Sych said he didn’t quite know how it went in.

The second power play marker was another one-timer from Sych that hit the end boards and popped back into the slot where Connor Logan poked it home.

“It’s always awesome coming into Whitney Forum and being able to get points,” Sych said following his two point performance. “I think its an especially great feeling given what happened last year in the playoffs. It’s always good to take it to them.”

Last season, it was the Bombers who ended the North Stars hopes for a championship, eliminating them in five games in the second round of the playoffs.

But coming in and winning back to back games on the road is a testament to how this team can overcome adversity.

“It’s just resilience,” Bedford said. “We just found ways to win both nights under extreme circumstances and you’ve got to be happy with that. It shows lots of character and lots to work with, that’s for sure.”

The Bombers were certainly the more physical team on Saturday, although it may have been their downfall, as a hit from forward Greyson Reitmeier in the second period clipped Kendall Fransoo from a bad angle and Reitmeier was ultimately given a five minute major for boarding.

That was when the North Stars scored back to back power play goals.

Bedford, however, said the more physical the game is, the better.

“I think that’s the style that we want to play. The more physical it is, the happier I am,” Bedford said. “Certainly Flin Flon came right at us and I thought we responded pretty well. There were times when we kind of got caught watching again but we kind of refocused our guys so to speak and they did a really great job in all areas.”

The North Stars are now 7-3-0 this season, including an impressive 5-1-0 record on the road.

Goaltender Joel Gryzbowski is also 4-0-0 to start the season, with two shutouts thus far.

The Bombers now fall to 6-2-1-1.

Battlefords will have a three game road swing next week, traveling to Wilcox, Weyburn, and then Estevan on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, respectively.

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