On the bright side: North Stars' forward, Ben Portner (#18) scored his 26th goal of the season Sunday, and now has 16 goals and 31 points over his last 14 games. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)
Drop third straight

North Stars wrap weekend trip with 5-2 loss to Hounds

Feb 25, 2024 | 9:21 PM

The Battlefords North Stars wrapped up their final road swing of the regular season Sunday night in Wilcox, falling 5-2 to the Notre Dame Hounds to close out the weekend trip at 0-3.

Much like the two nights prior, Sunday’s game opened with a pair of quick goals-against coming early in the opening minutes. Hounds leading scorer, Cole Wirun opened the scoring – and promtly added another just 32 seconds later – to give his team an early 2-0 lead just five minutes into the game on Notre Dame’s opening four shots.

Elijah Anderson answered back later in the frame to make it a 2-1 game with his ninth of the season, and second in a Stars’ uniform, though trailing by a single at the end of the first is as close as the Battlefords would come.

In the second, Hounds’ forwards Paul Bloomer and Van Eger added to the lead on back-to-back power play goals to stretch the lead to 4-1, heading into the third.

Notre Dame’s Ripley Garden then put the game away for good late, scoring into the empty-netter to make it 5-1; though Ben Portner did add his 26th of the season late on a power play tally to get the North Stars’ man-advantage on the board after generating several scoring chances earlier in the contest.

Just a night after registering his 80th point of the season, Kian Bell picked up the primary helper on Porter’s tally, to go along with about 10 shots of his own throughout the game, generating numerous scoring chances throughout.

Hounds’ goalie, Johann Tremblay-Kau was the biggest difference-maker for his team, making 39 saves on 41 Stars’ shots to backstop the homeside to victory. Battlefords’ puck-stopper, Logan Cunningham stopped 27-of-30 at the other end.

With the loss, the North Stars are now 33-13-4 through 50 games, and with 70 points sit just two ahead of Humboldt, and three up on Melfort for second overall in the league standings with six games to go.

The North Stars will now get the better part of a week off, before returning to action next Friday and Saturday for back-to-backs against the Melfort Mustangs in North Battleford. The NAPA Auto Parts North Stars Broadcast will be available both nights on 1050 CJNB, with the Ultra Print Pregame Show at 7 p.m. and puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m. both nights.

Scoring summary

First period:

4:28 ND Cole Wirun (16) ASST: Paul Bloomer, Davis Sato 1-0 ND

5:00 ND Cole Wirun (17) ASST: MacLean Cooney, Davis Sato 2-0 ND

12:19 BAT Elijah Anderson (9) ASST: Evan Waldie, Colton Getzlaff 2-1 ND

Second period:

10:05 ND ND Paul Bloomer (3) ASST: Rocsyn Bird, Van Eger (PP) 3-1 ND

19:03 ND Van Eger (6) ASST: Liam Hunks, Carson Baylis (PP) 4-1 ND

Third period:

6:12 ND Ripley Garden (2) ASST: None (EN) 5-1 ND

18:33 BAT Ben Portner (26) ASST: Kian Bell, Brad Blake (PP) 5-2 ND

5-2 ND, the Final

Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @MartyMartyPxP1

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