By battlefordsNOW Staff

North Stars crush Terriers 8-2

Jan 19, 2018 | 10:16 PM

The Battlefords North Stars had little trouble with the Yorkton Terriers on Friday night, at least according to the scoreboard.

But if not for goaltender Joel Grzybowski, the team’s 8-2 win could have been much different.

The Hafford native made 32 saves for his ninth win of the season in nine starts.

“He made key saves on some breakdowns,” North Stars head coach Brandon Heck said after the game. “I thought our d-zone was actually good — it was the turnovers in the neutral zone or shots off shin pads by our d-men or trying to stickhandle that led to [their chances].”

The lopsided victory was partially overshadowed by all the chances given up, and at times, a lack of discipline, as the team was given more than one unsportsmanlike penalty.

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“Lots of positives to take away and a few negatives. Anytime you when 8-2 in the [SJHL], you should be happy,” Heck said. “[Having] a lot of scoring chances [both ways] does favour us with our skill, but if we’re going to go far and win in the playoffs — when you get shut down — you’re going to have to limit [their chances].”

After 20 minutes, the North Stars were up 3-0 on goals from MacGregor Sinclair, Troy Gerein, and Connor McIntosh, but Yorkton had several high quality chances in the opening frame, and they also hit the crossbar once.

“We took the last 10 minutes of the first off and [Grzybowski] made a number of big saves to keep us with the lead,” Heck said. “[We] started playing a little selfish and not playing the right way and it led to them playing a lot in our own end.”

Grzybowski now has a 1.71 goals-against-average and .932 save percentage this season after returning from the Saskatoon Blades in November.

Following the first period, the North Stars 3-0 lead was cut to 3-1 early in the second on a goal from Drew Coughlin.

“We needed that goal against us to wake us up,” Heck said. “We finished the second pretty strong and had a ton of chances.”

The second period offence was provided by Matthias Urbanski and Parker Smyth, who got his first goal as a North Star, to make it 5-1 after 40 minutes.

Cole Johnson, Blake Fennig and Urbanski would also score in the third period. Slater Strong added a Yorkton goal late to make the final 8-2.

In the end, 15 different North Stars had at least a point.

“[Our offence was] mostly spread out. We need that too. It’s good to come at teams in waves,” Heck said. “There were a few guys that definitely stood out [offensively] I thought Brad Girard was real, real good. Had the puck on his stick a lot tonight. I thought Cole Johnson, he was dynamic. Skated the puck up, played heavy in their end.”

The final shots on goal were 38-34 in favour of the North Stars.

The club’s ailing power play also found the back of the net, going 1-for-3, thanks to Johnson’s goal.

Battlefords is now 29-6-2 this season, and 8-1-1 in their last 10.

The North Stars travel to Balcarres on Saturday night for a date with the Melville Millionaires on Hockey Day in Saskatchewan. The Mils lost 7-5 to Melfort on Friday.

“I’m excited to see that [small town] atmosphere,” Heck said. “When we went and played a neutral zone game in Pinehouse, we were treated so well and it was fun to be a part of that game, so with Hockey Day in Saskatchewan — a lot of good hockey players come from Saskatchewan so I’m curious to see who will be in attendance.”

cjnbsports@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BattlefordsNOW