Wolves Return the Favor in N.B.

The La Ronge Ice Wolves scored four third period goals, and came back to defeat the Battlefords North Stars 6-5 in front of 600-plus at the Civic Center Wednesday. The Wolves got goals from six different goal scorers, and the Stars fell just short against their Bauer Conference rivals.

It was 1-1 after one. La Ronge opened the scoring on the power-play when Travis Eggum put home a nifty pass from Doug Lindensmith. The Stars quickly countered with Shayne Morrissey's first of three on the night.

Early in the second, the Stars took a 2-1 lead when Keith Grondin notched his seventh of the season. It was a power-play marker, which gives Grondin five power-play goals so far this season.

La Ronge tied it at the mid-way point of the game when Marc-Andre Carre centered a pass to Logan Herauf who shelved one on Graham Hildebrand.

40 seconds later the Stars grabbed a 3-2 lead on a power-play. Brody Luhning one-timed a Keith Grondin pass by Adam Bartko, and after 40 minutes the Stars led by one, and would start the third period on the power-play.

Early in the third the tide turned. Taylor Pillar stole the puck from Woody Klassen at the point, and skated in alone and deked Hildebrand to tie the score at three. 91 seconds later the Stars grabbed a 4-3 lead when Shayne Morrissey tipped home a Colin Phaneuf shot.

Less than a minute later Marc-Andre Carre one-timed a Phil Belanger pass by Hildebrand to tie the score at four. Richard Cameron then tipped home a point-shot from Dusty Iron, and with 3:56 gone in the third period the Ice Wolves led 5-4.

Aaron Enns gave the Wolves a 6-4 lead with a late power-play goal, and from there Adam Bartko rose to the occasion and made some quality stops to give La Ronge the victory.

Shayne Morrissey scored his third of the game to pull the Stars within one, but Bartko denied Keith Grondin with one second left on the clock and the Wolves head home with two consecutive road victories.

The Stars finished the game two-for-six on the power-play while the Ice Wolves were two-for-three. The Stars outshot the Wolves 42-34.

Now the Stars have a week off between games. Many of the players will head home for a few days to recharge the batteries. Blair Atcheynum hinted after the game that some important roster decisions are coming soon for the Stars, and some players that are heading home for a break could very well not be coming back.

The Stars head off to Kindersley next Wednesday.

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I'll be posting some personal reaction and some game photos over the next few days. So make sure you keep checking back, and as always I want to read your thoughts on the team!