The Battlefords North Stars are off to a flying start in their defence of their SJHL title, beating Nipawin 3-0 in the first game of their quarterfinal series.
The series is a marquee matchup between the two franchises that have raised the Canalta Cup over the past three seasons: Nipawin in 2018, and the Battlefords in '17 and '19. The game Friday night lived up to the hype, as it was a tight-checking, closely-fought contest at the Civic Centre.
It was another fine outing for the recently-acquired Kristian Lyon in net, as he recorded a shutout on 34 shots.
Lyon's performance earned him star of the game honors. But that wasn’t the whole story. Lyon also got plenty of help in front of him, as the North Stars fired 47 shots the Hawks’ way. The team also put on a clinic in penalty killing at various points in the contest.
In the second period, Carson Reagan was sent to the box for four minutes for high sticking. But the North Stars were able to kill that penalty off. They were also able to kill off two penalties to their leading goal-scorer Quintin Loon-Stewardson during the second and later the third period. Â
Kaden Boser got things rolling for the Stars in the first period with a goal at 16:55 from Steven Kesslering and Ryland McNinch.
They maintained that one-goal lead into the third when Jaxon Steele scored from Ben Hiltz and Seth Summers at 7:22, and then Elijah Loon-Stewardson sealed it up with a goal from Rylan Nivon and Summers at 16:32. For Nivon, it was his first game back into the lineup after being injured in January.
The most dramatic moment of the game came in the third period at 9:49 when Matthias Urbanski was awarded a penalty shot. That attempt was foiled by Dalton Dosch. In the end, the North Stars got all the goals they needed to take the early jump in the series.
Game two goes Saturday night at the Civic Centre before the teams head to Nipawin for games three and four. Â Â
