Stars - Klippers Preview

Whenever these two teams get together, fans can expect a battle. There is certainly no love-loss between the Klippers and North Stars. Kindersley has won four straight games, while the North Stars are a perfect 8-0 at home. Sadly one of these streaks will end tonight.



Record: 11-7

Who's Hot Up Front:

No surprise really that Jordan Braid is leading the charge with 23 points in 18 games. But what maybe does come as a surprise is the fact that second-year Klipper Andrew Dommett has 21 points. Dommett is tied for the team lead in goals with 13, and has proven to be an outstanding secondary scoring threat for the Klippers.

Who's on D:

Steven Turner leads the Klippers with five goals and 14 points to start the season. He's a solid two-way defensive threat who will likely log a ton of ice-time tonight. Look for other D-Men like Kurt Leedahl, Sean Flanigan and Justin Wilkinson to see a lot of minutes as well.

Who's in Goal:

With the way he is playing right now, I'd be shocked if we saw anybody other than Josh Thorimbert. The 17-year-old native of Saskatoon has been super for the Klippers, and was recently named SJHL Rookie of the Month for October.

X-Factor:

Taylor Duzan is probably the smallest player in the SJHL, but you'd never know it by watching him play. He's shifty, physical, and talented. Duzan has shown tremendous poise and vision over the years, and always seems to bring his best when the North Stars are involved. If the Stars can limit his time and space, they will likely find some success against the Klips.



Record: 11-7-1-0

Who's Hot Up Front:

Coming into tonight's game, Blake Peake is the hottest North Star's forward. Peake scored twice earlier this week in Nipawin and La Ronge, and seems to have regained some offensive confidence. Josh Daley and Shay Neufeld continue to provide Peake with some great support. I've also noticed that Peake tends to do well against Kindersley.

Who's on D:

The North Stars are probably looking for a more collective offensive effort from the back-end. No D-Man stood out really during the two-game road swing up North. Jesse Lebreton, Cody Folstad, and Woody Klassen in particular are all players that are going to be knocking on the door tonight, and if one of those three can pick up a couple of points, the North Stars could be on their way to win number nine at home.

Who's in Goal:

Kyle Birch likely gets the call again tonight, as he looks to redeem himself after a two-loss road trip. Birch played well in both games, but has exactly looked "himself" lately. If both Birchy and Thorimbert are on their game tonight, we could be in for a low-scoring affair.

X-Factor:

No player has had more scoring chances lately than Blake Tatchell. The 18-year-old North Battleford boy has been a little snake-bitten recently around the net. If Tatch can get off the schnide tonight, the Stars will have a very good chance at victory.

Lets get over 1000 people to the Civic Center tonight. We've got some redeeming to do after a couple of smaller crowds in recent weeks.

For those that can't make it, you can catch the broadcast tonight on CJNB/CJNS starting at 7:15 with the SaskTel Pregame Show.

Stars Coach Ken Pearson Suspended Two-Games.

The Battlefords North Stars will be taking the ice on Friday and Sunday without their head-coach at the helm. The SJHL has suspended Ken Pearson for two games after he received a gross misconduct penalty Wednesday night in Nipawin.

This means that Assistant Coaches Blair Atcheynum and Gregg Sheppard will lead the Stars into battle tomorrow when they welcome the Kindersley Klippers.

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After going 8-3-1-0 in October, the North Stars have sputtered out the gate in November, dropping their first two games to La Ronge and Nipawin.

Coach Pearson says that the two losses weren't a result of poor effort. Simply put, there were bad bounces on Tuesday, and Wednesday's result was due to penalties.

Luckily the Stars get to return home, to a place where they are 8-0.

The Kindersley Klippers are no slouch though. They've won their last four games, and are making a ton of noise in the Sherwood Conference right now.

Everytime the Stars face the Klippers, fans can expect a battle, and I for one hope that the Civic Center is packed on Friday night.

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My apologies for the lack of coverage over the past three days. I've been battling some type of virus since Monday, and I've had little to no energy over the past couple of days.

When I got back from the road trip, I slept from 2 am until 5 pm today. I'm feeling a lot better now, but I'm not 100 percent. Cudos to Julie for looking after me! I've been enjoying a steady diet of chicken noodle soup and tea tonight.

Tomorrow I'll write up a preview of the Kindersley game. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody back at the Civic Center. Hopefully the home unbeaten streak continues.

Goodnight!

Ex-North Stars Prevail in Nipawin

The Battlefords North Stars have started the month of November with two straight one-goal losses to division rivals.

The Nipawin Hawks downed the Stars 3-2 on the strength of three Powerplay goals, all from former North Stars.

Taylor Epp scored the game winner with 6 minutes and change left in the third thanks to a chinsy penalty call that caused the exodus of coach Ken Pearson from the game.

Nipawin had eight powerplays overall, the Stars had two. One of those two wasn't even for a full two minutes.

Irregardless of officiating, the Stars still fell short. They did have a 2-0 lead at one point of the game.

Ken Pearson was livid afterwards, and for good reason IMO. That is all I'm going to say.

The Stars played well both nights of this road swing, and fell short. The hockey season is always a strange one full of peaks and valleys, and right now the Stars are in a minor slump.

That could very well change Friday night, as the Stars welcome the Kindersley Klippers to the Civic Center.

The only good news from tonight is that La Ronge and Flin Flon also lost.

Thanks for listening tonight.

Stars Fall in La Ronge, Off to Nipawin

Last night in La Ronge, the Battlefords North Stars and La Ronge Ice Wolves went toe-to-toe and put forth a pretty exciting 60-minute effort. The Wolves ended up defeating the Stars 5-4 on a goal scored with 91 seconds left in the game.

La Ronge opened the scoring mid-way through the first period when Marc-Andre Carre went wide on the defence and caught Kyle Birch over-committing. He centere the puck out fornt, and Ben Findlay had a wide-open net and scored his seventh of the season.

A few minutes later, the Ice Wolves went to the power-play and scored one of the nuttiest goals I've ever personally witnessed.

Tyson Greenbank skated up the right side of the ice, got to the blue line, and rifled the puck a long the glass - trying to dump the puck in. Kyle Birch came out of his net to stop the puck behind him, and instead, the puck took a big ol' bounce off the glass and right into the back of the net.

The North Stars though were able to persevere. Brett Miller received a pass from Mitch Wall and threw the puck out front, and it deflected off of Dustin Stevenson of La Ronge and by Adam Bartko.

The Stars tied the game mid-way through the second period. Josh Daley received a pass beside the Wolves net, took a shot, and Blake Peake was right there to stuff home the rebound.

Moments later, the Wolves grabbed their lead back. A defensive turnover by the Stars resulted in Doug Lindensmith's 10th goal of the season.

After 40 minutes, the Stars came out flying in the third period. They peppered Adam Bartko with shots, and were finally rewarded when Brett Miller centered a pass out in front, and Ryan Andersen one-timed it home to tie the game at three.

Doug Lindensmith struck again for the Ice Wolves after he beat the defence wide, and snuck one through Kyle Birch.

You guessed it, the Stars bounced back. Brett Miller netted his 12th of the year from an awkward angle on the left side of the ice. The puck took a few bounces, then barely snuck across the line.

After the Stars tied it, they had a tremendous chance to make it 5-4. Josh Daley was robbed point-blank by the former North Star netminder.

The Ice Wolves sealed the deal with 91 seconds left. Doug Lindensmith (again) beat the defence wide (again) and threw a shot on net. Birch stopped it, but Nolan Souchotte was right there to bang home the rebound.

Tonight the Stars will look to split their two-game road trip when they face the Nipawin Hawks.

It's Official.

I just got off the phone with Ken Pearson moments ago.

Swift Current has officially released Dane Muench. He'll be arriving in the Battlefords Wednesday night, and at the earliest will draw into the lineup on Sunday at home against the Melfort Mustangs.

He'll be wearing his old #29.

To make room for Dane Muench on the roster, the Battlefords North Stars have released forward Carlo Ricci.

Sports Fix Preview

Good afternoon,

Tonight's edition of the CO-OP Leisure Time Sports Fix is going to be a doozy! All three of my guests are representatives of the SJHL.

Guest number one will a long-time member of the Battlefords North Stars Board of Directors Stew Demmans. Stew Demmans and Ray Adelman have worked tirelessly over the past year in order to secure the SJHL Showcase in the Battlefords, and tonight we'll get all of the background information from Stew, and what we can expect from the weekend of November 26 - 28th.


Guest number two is the head-coach and General Manager for the La Ronge Ice Wolves, Bob Beatty. Beatty's team will host the North Stars tomorrow night, and are currently three points back of the Stars for second place in the Bauer Conference.

I'll ask the coach about his team's early success, and what it means to the city of La Ronge after last year's tough run. The Wolves also boast a couple of local players in Richard Cameron and Adam Bartko, and both have made big impacts this year. I'll ask the coach about those two, and what they mean to the success of the Ice Wolves.

My final guest will be the head-coach and GM of the Nipawin Hawks Colin O'Hara. The Nipawin Hawks made a big splash late last week when they traded Mike Rey to the Flin Flon Bombers. I'll ask Colin about that trade, and whether that trade means that Nipawin is rebuilding. We'll also tee up the Stars/Hawks battle that goes Wednesday from the Cage.

The show starts at 8:00 Saskatchewan time on CJNB/CJNS. You can also listen to the show from
here.


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I talked to Ken Pearson earlier this morning, and still no 'official' word on whether Dane Muench has been released by Swift Current yet. The longer this situation lingers, the more nerve racking it becomes.

I really want to see Dane Muench back in the Battlefords.

When everything is official one way or another, you'll be the first to know.


Enjoy the show tonight!

Weekend Update: Muench, Kimpinski, Hamm, Halloween Pics

The odds are good that Dane Muench is coming back.

The only way that it won't happen is if Swift Current does not grant Dane his release or as long as he's not traded to another WHL team. Both are still possibilities, but according to Jon Keen's blog, the decision was a mutual one between Dane and the Swift Current Broncos, so getting the release shouldn't be an issue.

Could he be traded to another WHL team? That does still remain a possiblity.

As for when he'd suit up - It won't be for another week to 10 days. Muench suffered an injury in the Western Hockey League, and is still not fit to play. I'd say the earliest we see him is on November 10th in Nipawin.

In six WHL games, the 17-year-old recorded four assists. Last year with the North Stars, Muench led the team with 24 goals, and was a finalist for the SJHL Rookie of the year.

His readdition to the North Stars lineup would undoubtedly make them a better team, and could "put them over the edge" as it were.

For those that haven't seen Muench play, you're missing out. He's a pure goal scorer, with more toughness than you'd expect. This is HUGE news for the North Stars.

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Korey Kimpsinki and Kyle Hamm have been traded.

Ken Pearson has dealt Kimpinski and Hamm to the OCN Blizzard of the MJHL in exchange for future considerations and the Junior A. playing rights to 1989 born defenceman J.C. Sampson.

I wish Kimpinski and Hamm well, but I still maintain that the two of them may have missed out on being part of something really special here in the Battlefords. The OCN Blizzard are going to have a peach of a time trying to beat out the Dauphin Kings in the MJ.

That's all I'll say about that.

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As promised, here is a photo of my Halloween 'get-up.'