After playing the Saskatoon Contacts tough Dec. 15, the Battlefords Midget Stars were looking for a win to end the 2010 portion of their Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League schedule.
Sunday in Saskatoon, the Stars took on the Blazers and earned a 5-4 overtime win.
"The win was huge," said Stars' coach Trevor Sack, who earned his first win since taking over at the beginning of December. "We have been stressing doing the little things right and everyone was ready to play Sunday."
The forwards expected to carry the offensive load did that and everyone else on the team appeared determined to get the win said Sack.
Colby Cave started the scoring with his ninth of the season from Justin Lund and Jeff Olson.
Four minutes later the Blazers tied the game as Joshua Reinboldt beat Blair Mahon making it 1-1 after the first period.
Early in the second, while Saskatoon was shorthanded, Connor Gay beat Mahon. Shortly after that, Dillon Schwartzenberger scored again making it 3-1.
Cave sparked the Stars' offence once again, as Eric Pfeifer and Blake Young drew the assists on his second of the game.
Former Star Jared Samborski reclaimed the Blazers' two-goal lead with a powerplay goal for his 13th of the season.
The fifth goal of the period came after Zackary Klebaum made a great play on a three-on-two rush setting up Dylan Fluter for his ninth of the season. After the second period the Stars trailed 4-3.
Seven minutes into the third, Lund scored his seventh of the season. Olson and Cave had the helpers on the game-tying goal.
In the final minutes of the third period, Olson was called for kneeing and Sack called a time out to calm his team. The captains stepped forward and took it upon themselves to rally the team and motivated them to kill the penalty and take the Blazers to overtime.
The Stars did just that and a minute after Olson's penalty expired he scored the game-winning goal. Lund and Cody Thiel had the assists on Olson's team leading 13th of the season.
The win snapped the Stars' nine game losing streak and gives them a 7-21-1-0 record heading into the break.
Along with the offensive players elevating their level of play, Sack was happy with the second and third line players as well.
Players like Jesse Gerbig, Ryne Keller and Regan Yew, "went to the wall for us," said Sack. Mentioning the strong cycle game they had as a unit leading to momentum building shifts.
Mahon stopped 43 shots for his third win of the season. Although Sack said there were maybe a couple goals he would have liked to have back, he made the saves when he needed to and gave his team an opportunity to win the game, especially in the third period, when the Blazers had consecutive strong shifts.
The Stars improved to 2-1-0-0 against the Blazers this season.
Sack said, "It felt great," to get the first one out of the way and it was important to get a win heading into the break.
The Stars are now off until they return to practice Jan. 3 with their next action Jan. 8 and 9 in Regina.
