The North Stars play two games against the Melville Millionaires this week. (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

North Stars Week Preview

North Stars prepare for back-to-back games against Mills

Jan 20, 2025 | 1:47 PM

After a weekend split against the Humboldt Broncos this past weekend, the Battlefords North Stars now hold a 20-13-3-2 record, putting them tied for fourth overall in the SJHL with 45 points.

Colton Getzlaff was also named the SJHL MVP of the Week for his outstanding performances in the past few games. This past week, he had four goals and one assist in two games, including his four goal game and shootout winner against Humboldt on Saturday.

Looking ahead to this week, the North Stars have a big chance to take a bump in the standings as they play back-to-back home games on Thursday, Jan. 23 and Friday, Jan. 24 against the Melville Millionaires.

This will be the third and fourth time the North Stars and Mills will play each other this season with Battlefords leading the season series 2-0.

Right now, Melville is 7th overall in the league and fighting to hold onto a playoff spot with an 18-18-2-1 record for 39 points. That being said, they have been on a bit of a hot streak recently, winning three of their past four games.

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Since the departure of their top two leading scorers, Caden Drury and Ryan Roethke, the Mills have struggled to get back on the right track but still have some dangerous weapons in Jadon Iyogun and Raiden Zacharias.

Iyogun is the team’s current leading scorer with 14 goals and 15 assists and he recently committed to Tennessee State University (NCAA DI). He is a very good skater with a great shot and has the stick work to go with it, if the North Stars can prevent him from getting good chances and use their physicality to slow him down, the Mills will have a hard time getting things done offensively.

Zacharias is another one of the top players for Melville and has been a big contributor for them for most of the season. In the past matchups against the North Stars though, he hasn’t done too much damage, but if left unattended he could be dangerous and make a difference.

For the North Stars, the biggest thing for them this week is getting their lineup back to normal as they have had a few players out due to injuries. The team should hopefully see the return of Nikita Ivashchenko, Linken Fisher, Josh Knittig and Connor Baumbach. Apart from that, the team has been playing very well in 2025 and even with all the missing pieces in the lineup, they are still 5-3 in the new year. If the North Stars can just continue to do what they have been doing, four points this week should be very achievable against the Mills.

Both games this week are at the Access Communication Centre with puck drop at 7:30 p.m.

Tune into the game with the Napa Auto Parts North Stars Hockey Broadcast on CJNB/CJNS with Ultra Print pregame show starting at 7 p.m. on both nights.

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Austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes