Playoffs??? You're Talking about Playoffs???

I admit it. Regular blogging does not come easy to me.

My lack of blogging can be justified with the fact that lately all of the Battlefords North Star hockey games have been a carbon-copy of each other. All have been un-inspired, uneventful and statistically meaningless.

In reality the Stars haven't played a meaningful hockey game in two weeks. For those keeping score, it was a 7-3 victory in Kindersley on the same night that the La Ronge Ice Wolves blew a 5-1 lead to the Nipawin Hawks and lost 6-5.

Since then, the Star's resume not exactly note worthy. They beat Nipawin (finally!) at home 4-3 a week ago, they lost a heart breaker to Flin Flon and have played stinkers against Yorkton, Melville, Humboldt and another against Flin Flon.

But the Stars clinched a playoff spot two weeks ago. These games have had no meaning on the standings whatsoever, so what do you expect? Meaningless games = Meaningless effort.

But that all changes tonight.

The Battlefords North Stars have two regular season games remaining in their season, and tonight they battle the Nipawin Hawks one final time before the post-season.

In case you've been vacationing in Zaire for the past two weeks, the North Stars and Hawks will be going head-to-head in the SJHL Survivor Series starting Friday in Nipawin.

Tonight's game is literally a "playoff preview."

If the Stars can't "get up" for a game of this magnitude then they can't "get up" for anything. I've got the pre-game jitters. I haven't had these since the Kindersley game.


But forgive me if I'm not feeling entirely optomistic. The Stars haven't won in Nipawin in a long time. I think the Hartford Whalers still existed when we last beat Nipawin at "THE CAGE."

I'm obviously kidding. But it has definitely been at least two full years and then some.

The Cage is something of an SJHL anomoly. It's cold, tiny and hostile and it certainly is not the easiest place to call a game from (A corner broadcast booth).

Yet I strongly feel like the Stars have a real shot to win this game tonight, and an even better shot to win the actual Survivor Series.

Don't get me wrong, Nipawin is a good team. They've got two offensive studs, a legitimite number one defenceman and a slough of depth. Yet they've got EVERYTHING to lose over the next two weeks.

Ask anybody outside of the North Stars organization who will win this series, and the answer will be a resounding Nipawin.

But if hockey has shown us anything, it has shown that upsets are a part of life. If Nipawin thinks that they can coast through this series then they are sorrowly kidding themselves. It's not in their nature to coast, but who wouldn't feel confident when facing a team that has 21 fewer points.


If the Stars win game one of this series. They win the series.

The problem:

I still have to wait three more days for the actual Series to start.


Tonight's game will be entertaining, and I'm sure that there will be several hits, fights, and moments during tonight's game that will set the table for an excellent series.


But don't count out the Stars just yet. Once the records are back at 0-0-0-0, you just never know.



Hopefully my next post will occur before March!