It was looking like déjà vu all over again for the Battlefords North Stars through nine minutes of Wednesday's game against the La Ronge Ice Wolves.
The team had a slow start and took penalties - a formula that's been hurting them early in the season. Owen LaClare netted the first goal of the game for La Ronge on the power play with a little more than 11 minutes left. Thirty-seven seconds later, Alex Beauregard scored his 14th of the season and the wheels appeared to be off for the North Stars until head coach Kevin Hasselberg called a momentum-changing timeout.
The team picked its play up immensely and capitalized when the Ice Wolves started taking penalties. With eight minutes left, Nick Fountain banged home a back hander from the side of the net.
On the next shot, Ben Greenaway came down on a short-handed rush and used a La Ronge defenceman as a screen before sniping it over goalie Dasan Sydora's shoulder to tie it up at two.
It was a penalty-filled first that saw the Ice Wolves registering eight penalty minutes and the North Stars spending six minutes in the sin bin.
The intermission zapped the energy out of the North Stars, who came out flat in the second and paid for it early. Rhett Kehoe scored 50 seconds into the frame short-handed. Goalie Casey Parker hesitated to play the puck and Kehoe picked it up and pulled it across the crease before depositing it into the gaping cage.
The North Stars dominated for the next nine minutes until Greenaway took an interference penalty and the Ice Wolves capitalized on the ensuing power play. Parker was pulled for Darren Martin following the goal. Martin made a couple nice stops in the final few minutes of the frame to steady the team.
The North Stars outshot the Ice Wolves 15-10, but were trailing 4-2 at the end of the second.
Unlike the first and second periods, the North Stars came out as the more energetic team in the third. Igor Leonenko continued his good rookie season in the SJHL when he camped out in the slot and found a loose puck. Leonenko squared up the net and put the puck through a mess of bodies to bring his team to within one.
Although the team continued to dictate play, they couldn't capitalize and it hurt them. With around 13 minutes left in the period, La Ronge's Tyson Valette got a pass from the corner and quickly put it home, leaving Martin no chance on the goal.
The North Stars battled back with six and a half minutes left when Nick Fountain put a saucer pass out front to Luke McColgan who redirected the puck past Sydora to make it a 5-4 game.
La Ronge's players were on their heels late in the game, defending a late push by the North Stars and were able to hold off the attack for the win.
The North Stars had a heavy advantage in shots with 46 to La Ronge's 25, but it all came down to which team could capitalize. Hasselberg doesn't care who wins the shot battle, he said he would take the win while being outshot "in a heart beat." It's all about cutting down on bad goals against.
"[Sydora's] a good goaltender, he gave them the timely saves they needed to get the win and we need the same thing right now from all of our players," he said. "We need contributions through 60 minutes and when that happens this team's going to find success and we're gonna find a lot of it."
And the team will get the chance to find success quickly as they bounce back with games Friday and Saturday at the Civic Centre against Yorkton and Humboldt.
