Heading into the quarter-final round of the 2018 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs, the play of Weyburn Red Wings netminder Arik Weersink was a major talking point after he stymied the Melville Millionaires in the first round.
The Battlefords North Stars offence made sure that he wouldn鈥檛 repeat those heroics Friday at the Civic Centre.
In the first game of a best-of-seven affair, the North Stars chased Weersink from the net after he gave up three goals on 12 shots in almost 13 minutes of work as the defending league champions cruised to a 5-1 triumph in their opening contest of the post-season.
鈥淭he boys were pretty excited to get the playoffs going on a strong note,鈥� North Stars forward Chaseton Braid said.
鈥淲e came out pretty strong to take a 3-0 lead and that was exactly the start we were looking for.鈥�
It was a well-balanced performance from the North Stars as Braid and Layne Young led the way with a goal and an assist each, while linemate MacGregor Sinclair dished out two helpers.
Keith Anderson, Cole Johnson and Owen Lamb also found the back of the net for the home side, who received a 22-save performance from Joel Grzybowski.
鈥淐oming in to this game we wanted to get a lot of shots on goal and use our speed, which I think was one of the big keys to our offence,鈥� Braid said.
鈥淓veryone bought in tonight, especially on defence as we were able to limit them to one goal.鈥�
One notable absence for the North Stars Friday was veteran netminder Taryn Kotchorek as he鈥檚 currently listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury.
Affiliated netminder Jake Davidson filled in on the bench in the back-up role.
Mike Eskra was the only Red Wings player to solve Grzybowski during a second period power play, while Liam McCloskey made 25 saves after taking over for Weersink in goal.
鈥淏attlefords came out with some jump and excitement in their game and we found ourselves down 3-0 as a result,鈥� Red Wings head coach Wes Rudy said.
鈥淎fter that I felt like it was a fairly even game for the most part. There were several things that I liked, but I think the long bus ride coupled with the fact that we just came off a hard-fought series with Melville showed early on.鈥�
The two sides will be back in action Saturday for the second game in the series in a 7:30 p.m. tilt at the Civic Centre.
The other three quarter-final matchups got underway Friday as the Humboldt Broncos pulled off the most eye-popping result with a 7-2 road win over the Melfort Mustangs.
Elsewhere, the Estevan Bruins defeated the Kindersley Klippers by a score of 3-1 and the Nipawin Hawks picked up a 5-1 triumph over the Flin Flon Bombers.
