Stars Grab Series Lead

It wasn't flashy, but for the second time in three nights the Battlefords North Stars have beaten the Melfort Mustangs. The Stars now hold a 2-1 series lead.

The atmosphere at the Civic Center was electric tonight, and the crowd was into it from the start. The Stars came out hitting, and were rewarded for their efforts at 5:03 of the first frame.

While short-handed, Blake Peake forced a turnover at the Star's blueline. He darted past the defender and raced in two-on-one with Mitch Wall. Peake slid a perfect pass through to Wall who made no mistake, notching his second goal of the playoffs.

At 10:16 the Stars grabbed a two-goal lead due to the great patience of Coleman Brodbin. Brodbin had the puck at the right point, and faked a shot, and then slid a gorgeous back-door pass to Nathan Tomac who shelved one on Chris Ward.

The Stars took a 3-0 lead at 11:07 thanks to Brett Miller (Chad Filteau?). Dominic Perrault kept the puck in at the left point, threw it around the Mustang's net. Blake Peake knocked down the puck, threw it out in front and quickly it was 3-0.

Late in the first, the Mustangs drew back within two thanks to some nice work down low by Owen Roschuck. Roschuck battled through some bodies in front of the North Star's net, and Brant Henry-Norton was there to knock home a rebound.

The second period had no scoring, and was largely uninteresting. It's safe to say that the Melfort Mustangs were the better team five-on-five, but once they got onto the power-play they seemed to take a step backwards. In that same breath, five-on-five the Star's struggled, and only seemed to pick up their intensity when killing penalties in the second.

Early in the third the Mustang's finally converted on the power-play. Gary Childerhose did it himself, as he took the puck from the far corner and took a shot. Hildebrand made the save, but 'Chilly' grabbed his own rebound and made it 3-2.

The next five-six minutes were back and forth as both teams had chances but it was the Star's who capitalized at 7:03. Blake Tatchell received a pass in the high-slot and roofed one on Chris Ward, and that sealed the deal for the Stars.

The three Stars in tonight's were:

1) Chad Filteau
2) Graham Hildebrand
3) Blake Peake.

The Stars go 0-5 on the powerplay while the Mustangs finished 1-8.

The shots on goal were 30 - 29 in favor of the Mustangs.

The series now shifts back to Melfort for Game Four on Friday night. A reminder to North Star fans that you're encouraged to make your way to the Hot Stove Lounge at the Civic Center that night to watch the SJHL Game of the Week on the big-screen. The bar will be open, and food may be an option if enough fans show up.

If you can't make it to the Civic Center, or if you're not heading to Melfort with a slough of other North Star Fans - You can catch the broadcast starting at 7:15 with the Sask-Tel Pregame Show.

1186 fans were at the Civic Center for tonight's game, and dang were they loud.