By Nathan Kanter

Arnold’s OT winner paces Hawks past North Stars

Dec 12, 2017 | 10:36 PM

Battlefords North Stars head coach Brandon Heck entered the dressing room after Tuesday’s overtime loss to Nipawin and didn’t have much to say to his club.

“Pretty much said ‘See you tomorrow,’ ” Heck said in the post-game interview on CJNB/CJNS, after coming out on the wrong end of a 3-2 score at home. “I liked our work ethic and we understand there are some things we’ve got to clean up but [our] guys are pretty down in there. I really like their character that way. They take the loss pretty hard.”

The North Stars were hosting the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s best team, at least according to the standings, in the 21-5-2-2 Hawks.

Nipawin entered the contest with 10 wins in their last 11. They now leave with an 11-0-1 record in their last 12, after Brandan Arnold notched the overtime winner 58 seconds into the 3-on-3.

The North Stars, who entered just one point back of Nipawin in the overall standings, also have been playing some good hockey the last little while. They began the night 10-2 in their last 12.

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“It was a good, intense hockey game. It was fun to be a part of,” Heck said. “I thought at times we were dominant in their end and at times they were dominant in our end.

“We’re not worried. That’s a very good team over there that works incredibly hard and I thought our work ethic was the same as theirs.”

It was the first meeting of the season between the North Stars and Hawks, who split the season series 2-2 last year.

The Hawks smothering defensive play caused some trouble for the North Stars, but it was more so their forecheck that gave Battlefords headaches.

“Definitely too many turnovers and I’m sure they would say the same thing too,” Heck said. “We were caught off a bit off guard with some time. We didn’t want to skate the puck. We wanted to stand still and look to make the pass. We’ll watch it and figure it out. I’m pretty confident in this group.”

Taryn Kotchorek stood tall with 34 saves in the losing effort, his second-highest save total this season.

His record drops to 9-5-1 this season.

“[Kotchorek] played real well,” Heck said. “He made some big saves at the end to get us a point when we kind of stopped playing to win and started playing to hang on; I thought he bailed us out. Able to get key whistles too.”

Captain Layne Young extended his point-streak to 12 games with the game-tying goal late in the second period. He now has seven goals and 22 assists over the last 12 games and leads the league with 60 points in just 29 games.

Keith Anderson scored the game’s first goal, his seventh of the season, and fourth point in three games since returning from an upper-body injury.

The schedule this week won’t get any easier for the North Stars. They host the 20-6-4-1 Melfort Mustangs on Friday and then play Flin Flon on Saturday.

Melfort did lose to Yorkton (7-22-2) on Tuesday, but the Mustangs are 6-2-2 in their last 10.

“They are very similar [to Nipawin]. Very defensively organized,” Heck said of his team’s next opponent. “One of their big scorers comes from the back end, similar to Nipawin. They work hard, they’re physical and they throw pucks on net, similar to what Nipawin does. Expecting the same type of game. We’re going to have to play with the same emotion and just a few less mistakes.”

Friday’s game is once again set for 7:30 p.m.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11