Stars Drop A Wild One 5-4.

Tuesday night in North Battleford, the Kindersley Klippers and Battlefords North Stars added another chapter into their fierce rivalry. The Klippers escaped with a 5-4 victory, going two for 10 on the powerplay in the process. Special teams, or a lack thereof (for the Stars) was the obvious story in this one.

Through 60 minutes the Klippers received 10 powerplay opportunities. Conversely the North Stars were only given two. Frustrations mounted as the game wore on and finally in the late stages of the third period, enough was enough for Ken Pearson.

With the score 5-3 Kindersley, Star's forward Blake Tatchell was (seemingly) tripped up on a breakaway. No penalty was called. Ken Pearson snapped and emptied his bench of sticks and water bottles. Pearson was promptly ejected and given a gross-misconduct.

The score was 1-1 after one. The Stars opened the scoring 14 seconds in when Tim Rollins tucked in a Travis Cech pass from behind the net. Klipper's captain Andrew Dommett tied the score on a one-timer at 11:51.

The first 16 minutes of the second period belonged to the North Stars. Kyle Hall scored twice, and the Stars led 3-1 with the minutes winding down in the second period. Braedon Adamyk made it 3-2 at 18:52, and shortly thereafter Kindersley received a five-on-three powerplay opportunity that would carry over into the third period.

34 seconds into the third period, Johnny Calkins tied the score, and at 2:08, Ryan Benn fired a wrister by Graham Hildebrand to give the resilient Klippers a 4-3 lead.

After a (valid) Cris Neurauter cross-checking penalty, the Klippers brought the puck across the Star's blueline off the rush. Colin Phaneuf attempted to pursue the puck-carrier, and instead was eliminated from the play by a Kindersley forward who hindered his progress. No call. Seconds later Andrew Dommett scored his second of the game to make it 5-3.

After the goal Colin Phaneuf argued profusely with referee Al Smith to no avail, and Ken Pearson called a timeout to try and calm his troops down. No luck.

At the 14:11 mark, the usually calm Woody Klassen lost it on Smith after he assessed Travis Sparrow with a high-sticking penalty. 1:58 later, Ken Pearson was ejected.

A lengthy exchange then took place between Star's assistant-captain Tony Oak and referee Alan Smith. Oak took a goaltender-interference penalty 13 seconds after play had continued and was kicked out. 46 seconds after Oak was kicked out, Cody Folstad was assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty.

Given all of the frustration, the Stars seemed to rally somewhat in the final minutes.

Blake Tatchell scored short-handed to bridge the gap to one, and the Stars had a chance or two in the final minute, but Kindersley netminder Sean Cahill stood his ground.

In the end, it was a well-deserved victory for the Kindersley Klippers. John Calkins had a four-point night, Sean Cahill was strong in goal, and new coach Rockie Zinger earned his first 'official' victory behind an SJHL bench. Zinger's club outshot the Stars 39-35. The Klippers have fought through a ton of adversity in the past 48-hours leading up to Tuesday's game, and managed to stay the course in a pretty hostile
environment.

As for the North Stars? Wednesday will be a revealing day. Suspensions are almost certain for Pearson (gross misconduct) and Tony Oak (goaltender inference. Second one of the game.) and they'll need to do their best to move beyond Tuesday's frustration and get set for battle with Flin Flon on Thursday and Nipawin Saturday. The Stars are four points back of Flin Flon and six points ahead of Nipawin in the standings, but have played in six more games. In order to feel any type of comfort heading into 2011, two victories are (almost) essential down the stretch.

Thursday's game will be broadcast live on CJNB/CJNS starting at 7:15.