The Battlefords North Stars just couldn't wait to be done with the regular season.
How else to describe what happened Tuesday - a 9-2 drubbing at the hands of the Kindersley Klippers on the road at West Central Events Centre.
The North Stars and Klippers had come off a fairly competitive Friday night matchup at the North Battleford Civic Centre, where the Klippers won 5-3.
But the game on Tuesday was a rout from the get-go, with Kindersley scoring five unanswered goals. They also burned the Stars with two power-play markers on the night.
All in all, it was no way to build confidence for a fourth-place North Stars team facing a first-round test beginning this weekend. Their Bauer Conference Survivor Series against the Flin Flon Bombers is set to begin at the Civic Centre Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m.
The wheels started falling off almost from the start for the North Stars. Braeden Adamyk got things rolling for the Klippers from Andrew Dommett and Johnny Calkins at the 2:09 mark of the first period. It was a power play goal with the Stars' Kyle Hall in the box for tripping.
Then at 3:23, the Klippers capitalized again as Jordon Hoffman's shot beat Graham Hildebrand, with Cody Lund and Taylor Duzan notching the assists.
At 10:45, Spencer Braaten made it 3-0 with the assists from Wheaton King and Sanfred King. That would round out the scoring from the first period.
They continued to pour it on early in the second period with Sanfred King scoring from Spencer Braaten and with Tanner Kissick scoring from Kurt Leedahl. That made it 5-0 early in the second, and the game was pretty much a lost cause from that point on for the North Stars.
Mitch Galbraith was finally able to notch a goal for the Stars short-handed, with Woody Klassen assisting, midway through the second. But seconds later Braeden Adamyk scored again on the power play from Sandred King and Johnny Calkins to restore a five-goal lead.
Kindersley made it 7-1 in the third period on Taylor Duzan's goal, with Hoffman and Kissick assisting at the 1:53 marker. The Battlefords scored at the 2:29 mark as Keith Grondin scored from Kyle Hall. Then it was all Kindersley as Sanfred King scored from Lund at 4:47 and Braaten got his second goal of the game with assists from Sean Flanagan and Kurt Leedahl.
Justin McDonald got the win for the Klippers while Hildenbrandt took the loss. On the night the Battlefords had nine penalties while the Klippers had six.
The win for Kindersley was their sixth of seven meetings with the North Stars this season. Fortunately for the North Stars, the lopsided result means nothing in the grand scheme of things, as fourth place and a survivor series date with Flin Flon is all locked up.
The North Stars now go into the playoffs hoping to put behind them both a lopsided game with Kindersley and a regular season that didn't live up to many of the pre-season expectations. The final record for the 2010-11 North Stars is 26-29-2-1.
Fortunately for the North Stars, they can take comfort from the fact that both of last year's finalists, La Ronge and Yorkton, made it to the championship round following so-so regular seasons of their own. Both made the finals after first having to get through the first-round survivor series last year, and the North Stars hope the same journey is in store for them.
Game one goes Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Civic Centre, with game two Saturday, also at the Civic Centre. The winner moves on to the Bauer Conference semi finals.
The other playoff action this weekend, the Melville Millionaires travel to Estevan to begin their Sherwood Conference survivor series against the Bruins. That game begins Friday at 7:30 p.m., with game two Saturday night in Melville.
The regular season wrapped up throughout the league Tuesday night. Other scores saw the Humboldt Broncos beat La Ronge 4-2, Nipawin beat Flin Flon 3-2 and Estevan topped Melville 6-5.
The regular season also ended in controversy as the SJHL threw the book at the Melfort Mustangs over the use of an affiliated player, who was deemed ineligible after playing 14 regular-season games, four more than the 10 he was allowed to appear in.
The Mustangs were fined $1,800 and had to forfeit three points the club earned during the four extra games he suited up for. Two points earned in a win against Humboldt on Jan. 28 and one point from a shootout loss against Estevan Feb. 2 were forfeited. However, nothing changes in the final standings with the Mustangs safely in second place in the Bauer Conference going into the playoffs.
