Saturday night at the Civic Center in front of 1020 fans, the Battlefords North Stars defeated the Notre Dame Hounds 4-3. Dane Muench led the way with three assists, and Kyle Birch made some key stops early to keep the game close.
The game was scoreless after one but the Hounds and Stars traded chances back and forth. Thomas Williams had the best chance of the period, but Kyle Birch denied him point-black and kept it tied.
The Stars opened the scoring at 4:29 of the second period when Mitch Wall (11)deflected home a Dane Muench point-shot on the power-play.
Muench wasn't done. At 11:29 of the second, he set up Jesse Lebreton for his twelth goal of the season.
The Hounds kept coming, but Kyle Birch continued to deny them. Andy Smith, Travis Janke and Trevor Milner all had great chances to score, but were turned down.
The Stars grabbed a 3-0 lead 48 seconds into the third period when Dane Muench (again!) made a super pass to a streaking Ward Szucki, who received the pass, and beat Russell Abbott five-hole for his 12th of the season.
But true to form, the North Stars made it interesting themselves. The Hounds got on the board at 8:53 when Trevor Cameron scored. Blayne Stevenson made it 3-2 at 14:55, and it looked as if momentum had totally turned for the worse.
But Blake Peake answered the bell. Peake scored his 25th goal at 18:19, and scored what would turn out to be the game-winning goal.
The Hounds made it 4-3 late when the Stars failed to clear their own zone, and Andy Smith grabbed a Travis Janke rebound and roofed it.
Kyle Birch made a couple of late saves which kept the Stars on top. After the game during his Hot Stove interview, Kyle Birch jokingly said that he made all of those saves on purpose.
Birch and Muench were easily the two best players on the ice for the Stars who improved to 28-16-1-2 with the win. The Stars trail Flin Flon by eight points in the Bauer Conference standings but have two games in hand on first place Flin Flon.
Up next for the Stars: The Nipawin Hawks, tonight at 7:30. The game will be broadcast tonight on CJNB/CJNS starting at 7:15.
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The Melfort Mustangs were also winners on Saturday night, and in the process moved ahead of La Ronge into third spot in the Bauer Conference standings. Both teams have 56 points on the year, but Melfort still has three games in hand.
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Tonight's game against the Hawks is a really important one for both teams! At this stage, is there a single game in the SJHL that isn't important? A win for Nipawin tonight would inch them within two points of that final playoff spot in the Bauer Conference, and they'd still have a game in hand on Humboldt.
A desperate hockey team is a dangerous thing, and the Stars are going to have to be careful against Nipawin tonight. I'll post a game preview later tonight before the game.
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