Sunday, the 14-19-1-1 Battlefords North Stars travelled to Humboldt to take on the 19-13-0-1 Broncos in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action.
After suffering a 7-4 loss to the SJHL's last place Notre Dame Hounds at home Friday, the North Stars were looking to shake things up and earn a win on their final road game of 2010.
Ken Pearson mixed up his line combinations and a few defence pairings, trying to spark his team heading into the final week before the Christmas break. It paid off, as all forward units chipped in, the defence was solid and the goaltending from Graham Hildebrand was reliable.
"We had been thinking about mixing up the lines for a little while and it was just the right time after not playing real well against Notre Dame Friday," said Pearson.
It appeared to work in the first minute, as Cody Folstad fired a shot through traffic and beat Andrew Bodnarchuk for his sixth of the season. Mitch Galbraith earned the assist.
Five minutes later, Josh Roach evened the scored and after 20 minutes the game remained tied.
The Battlefords came out strong in the second period and it showed, as they scored three times on 14 shots. Samuel Fortier scored his third of the season from Tanner Schwab and Woody Klassen. Colin Phaneuf's 17th of the season was assisted by Travis Sparrow and Keith Grondin. Finally, Luke Hannas scored from Galbraith for his second as a North Star to give the Battlefords a 4-1 lead heading into the third.
In an 88 second span, the North Stars added three more goals, as Schwab scored his eighth, Phanuef scored his second of the game and Travis Cech scored his ninth of the season. Fortier and Boyd Wakelin each had an assist on a third period goal.
Humboldt responded with a goal off the stick of Taylor Johnson nearly two minutes later, but it was way too little too late.
Hildebrand was awarded the game's first star honours with a 32 save performance for his sixth win of the season. Pearson said his team did a good job of clearing rebounds and limiting good scoring chances from the Broncos. Bodnarchuk faced 45 shots in the loss.
Both teams had three powerplays, but the penalty killers on both sides proved to be perfect all game.
"Our guys were aggressive and did a great job taking away time and space," said Pearsons adding, "Our guys did a great job of communicating on the penalty kill and worked hard, but also worked smart."
Friday night, that wasn't exactly the case and the main reason the North Stars lost 7-4.
Mitch Boucher capitalized on a loose puck four minutes into the first period Friday at the Civic Centre and beat Kyle Birch.
On a powerplay later in the first Folstad one timed a Blake Tatchell pass by Russell Abbott. Phaneuf also assisted on the goal.
Tatchell and Fortier both had good scoring chances later in the first, but all that came from those opportunities was a loose puck behind Abbott in the crease and shot off the post. The first period ended 1-1.
Ben Morgan, Richard Cameron, Dylan Babe and James Howden all scored for the Hounds in the second, while the North Stars' only response came from Fortier on a breakaway while shorthanded. Oak assisted on Fortier's goal.
The North Stars trailed 5-2 heading into the third.
Trevor Cameron scored on a two-on-one for Notre Dame early in the third period, but Phanuef responded for the North Stars from Schwab and Chris Neurauter.
Later, Schwab deked to his backhanded and beat Abbott making it 6-4. Klassen and Kyle Hall had the helpers on the goal that pulled the North Stars to within two, however the Hounds scored an empty net goal and took the 7-4 win.
The next day, Pearson said his team did a good job of refocusing and watched some video and appeared to put that game behind them in Humboldt.
Now the North Stars will look to end their 2010 portion of the season with three homes games. Tuesday, they hosted Kindersley, Thursday, they will host Flin Flon and Saturday Nipawin is at the Civic Centre.
Following Saturday's game the Battlefords North Stars will have two weeks off before returning to practice Jan. 1 and playing an exhibition game against Sweden's under-17 team.
