"We're gonna go for third obviously, anything less is unacceptable," said Woody Klassen hours before the Battlefords North Stars took on the Estevan Bruins Thursday evening.
The North Stars are not yet in third place, but they did everything in their power to keep pace with the Humboldt Broncos in their past two games.
Games between the Bruins and North Stars have been unpredictable to say the least in the past two seasons and Thursday was more of the same as four former North Stars and two former Bruins faced their old teammates.
Estevan started the scoring when Boyd Wakelin had a point shot blocked by Calder Neufeld. Neufeld was stopped by Graham Hildebrand on the breakaway, but eventually a point shot from Dominic Perrault found the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Former Bruin, Cole Gibson evened the scored, as he snuck a shot by Shea Cooper's glove side off the rush. Gibson's 15th of the season was assisted by Tony Oak.
Later in the first, it was the North Stars' other trade-deadline acquisition scoring. Braeden Johnson took a beautiful blue-line to blue-line pass from Colin Phaneuf and deked through the Estevan defenders before putting the finishing touch on the play with a snap shot by Cooper's blocker.
Ryan Anderson tied the game later in the first, as he capitalized on a Blake Tatchell turnover in the defensive zone.
After one period the score was 2-2 with Estevan outshooting the North Stars 15-8.
Estevan took advantage of a powerplay six minutes into the second, as Lucas Stubel one timed a point shot by Hildebrand. A minute later, the North Stars responded when Wakelin jumped on a loose puck and beat Cooper. Mitch Galbraith and Johnson assisted on Wakelin's fourth of the season.
The North Stars took their second lead of the game when Tanner Schwab tipped a Gibson pass into the net. Schwab's 11th of the season was also assisted by Cris Neurauter.
Later, Estevan came close to tying the game, but Hildebrand made a brilliant save to pull the puck off the goal-line. The Bruins did however tie the game minutes later when Josh Jelinksi picked up a pass from Justin Waskewitch on a two-on-one and beat Hildebrand.
After 40 minutes the teams were tied 4-4.
Early in the third, on a delayed penalty to the Bruins, Kyle Hall tapped the puck into the net for his 18th of the season.
Keith Grondin and Phaneuf had the assists on what stood to be the game-winning goal.
The North Stars had several chances to increase their lead, as Gibson was stopped on a partial breakaway while shorthanded. Robbie Newton hit the post. And Tatchell lost the handle on a breakaway after forcing a turnover.
Hildebrand was also strong in the final period making some good saves off the rush and earning his seventh win of the season.
The game ended 5-4 with the Bruins outshooting the North Stars 45-32, and as North Stars coach Ken Pearson said after the game, the matchup between the two teams with similar styles always seems to make for an exciting game with several offensive chances.
The other factor could be the familiarity between the players. Four former North Stars - Perrault, Anderson, Waskewitch and Neufeld - combined for two goals and two assists. The two former Bruins, Gibson and Neurauter combined for one goal and two assists.
Not only did the former teammates shine Thursday, but the North Stars' deadline deals are proving to pay off as well.
"Cole has been really good the last couple of games and his veteran savvy with the puck in the offensive zone and killing penalties has been huge for us," said Pearson. "Braeden is slowly getting his confidence back. He didn't play a lot in the offensive situation he is in here when he played in Saskatoon, so I think it is more of a mindset of him getting comfortable. He has to be a little bit more confident and I think he will maybe contribute more as we go down the stretch."
The other player who had a strong game was Hildebrand. Pearson already knew he would start back-to-back games last week and Hildebrand proved he would make the most of the opportunity.
"I thought Graham played alright," said Pearson. "He maybe started out a little bit slow, but as the game went on he hit his stride."
The North Stars continued that momentum Saturday when they went to Nipawin and won 5-2.
Hildebrand made some saves early and the North Stars scored twice in the opening frame. Tim Rollins scored his ninth of the season from Schwab and Neurauter. Later, Brody Luhning blasted a slapshot by Brody Hoffman. Tatchell and Johnson had the helpers on Luhning's ninth.
The teams traded goals in the second, as Jeremy Peeke and Brendan Tash scored powerplay goals for Estevan.
The North Stars scored one powerplay goal, as Luhning notched his second of the game early in the second period form Schwab and Rollins. Gibson also scored from Neurauter, which chased Hoffman from the game. He was replaced by Stephen Klein.
In the third period, 55 seconds in, Grondin gave the North Stars more insurance, as he was set up by Phaneuf and Cody Folstad for his 27th goal of the season.
Hildebrand went on to make 32 saves in the win and the North Stars killed four of six shorthanded situations in the win.
The North Stars remain one point back of third place in the Bauer Conference behind Humboldt and will be in action Wednesday at home against the Sherwood Conference leading Yorkton Terriers.
This weekend the North Stars will begin a stretch of four straight road games, as they travel to Nipawin and Melfort.
