By Craig Stein
Stars, Hawks Headline Winners
There were four games in the SJHL Friday night, and a pair of them featured four of the league’s hottest clubs, as Melfort travelled to Battlefords and Nipawin opened a road swing in Estevan.
Layne Young (1g-1a) scored midway through overtime and the Battlefords North Stars edged the Melfort Mustangs 3-2 (OT).
Josh Sielsky and MacGregor Sinclair also scored and Levi Kleiboer added two assists, while Kolby Matthews made 26/28 saves.
Kalem Zary (1g-1a) and Colin Schmidt scored for Melfort and Evan Plotnik made 30/33 saves.
In terms of overall points, the North Stars are middle-of-the-pack, but have a near perfect record (7-0-1-0) with a pile of games in hand, and the league’s best winning percentage (.938%).
Melfort (10-1-2-1), after starting the season 8-0-0-0, have now dropped four of their last six however just the one in regulation.
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The Nipawin Hawks still have yet to lose in regulation since opening weekend, winning their fifth straight while picking up at least a point in their ninth straight, getting past Estevan 2-1.
Zach Goberis opened the scoring with his league-leading 17th goal and 29th point of the year for the Bruins (10-3-1-0) early in the second period, before Nipawin’s Jake Tremblay scored twice in the third period to finish off the scoring. Declan Hobbs stopped 27/28 shots in goal for the Hawks (8-1-1-1).
Nipawin’s trip also sees them in Weyburn Saturday and Notre Dame Sunday.
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The La Ronge Ice Wolves picked up their second win of the season, and it was much in thanks to their new goaltender, in a 5-2 win over the visiting Flin Flon Bombers.
Merek Pipes, already on his third different SJHL team this season, made his Ice Wolves debut and fit right in, making 46/48 saves. Pipes is 2-0 on the season, having won his only start with Nipawin, after opening the season on Yorkton’s roster.
Offensively, Connor Smith led the Ice Wolves (2-10-0-1) with a pair of goals. Drayton Thunderchief (1g-1a), Ben Manson and Tanner Brewster also scored.
Ethan Daniels opened the scoring just 36 seconds in for the Bombers (5-6-0-3) who are now winless in six. Chrystopher Collin added a late one on the powerplay for his 10th of the year.
The road swing doesn’t get any easier as the Bombers continue on to Battlefords Saturday night.
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Almost every player on the roster had a chance to shoot in the shootout in Melville, as it lasted 14 rounds and the Humboldt Broncos picked up the extra point, defeating the Millionaires 3-2 (SO).
The third shooter scored for each club, Logan Schatz for Humboldt and Dayton Heino for Melville, and that was it until the 14th round when Bronco defenseman Stephen Wack sealed it.
Derek Patter and Kaleb Dahlgren had the Broncos up 2-0 early in the second period, before the Millionaires (3-10-0-2) scored a pair in the third thanks to Heino and Trevor Paradise.
Jacob Wassermann made 23/25 saves for the Broncos (8-5-1-0), who took over top spot in the Olympic Buildings Division. Melville’s Colby Entz made 34/36 stops.
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