The North Stars beat the Nipawin Hawks 4-3 in overtime last night. (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

Back to back wins

Norths Stars hold on to beat Hawks in OT

Jan 6, 2025 | 12:26 PM

It was a real nail-biter last night at the Centennial Arena in Nipawin as the Battlefords North Stars won their second game of 2025 over the Nipawin Hawks 4-3 in overtime.

The game started off with the North Stars coming out very strong, getting a goal in the first minute of the game coming from Josh Knittig, his fifth of the season to give Battlefords a 1-0 lead.

Then shortly after that, the North Stars were able to strike the nylon again, this time from Nikita Ivashchenko to increase their lead to 2-0 early on in the first.

Coming out for the second, the North Stars carried their momentum and found some good shots on net but couldn’t seem to find the back of the net. Then as the period went on, Nipawin slowly started to pick up the pace which resulted in a powerplay goal for them to close the gap and make it a 2–1 game.

As second period continued on, Nipawin continued to get better and find some rhythm and just like that, they were right back in the game as they scored another goal to tie it 2-2 going into the third.

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For the third period, the North Stars were able to take back the momentum and just before the midway point of the period, they scored a goal coming from Elijah Anderson on the powerplay to go up 3-2.

But the Hawks continued to pile on the pressure and eventually, after a bad turnover by the North Stars in their own end, Nipawin found the back of the net to tie the game 3-3 and force overtime.

In overtime, Nipawin came out putting on a fury of shots right away but after a few big saves from Justen Maric, the North Stars came down the ice and it was Braden Nienaber who lit the lamp, giving Battlefords the 4-3 win.

The North Stars got out-shot in the game 31 to 30, went 1/5 on the powerplay and stopped Nipawin three out of four times on the penalty kill.

Justen Maric came up big as usual, stopping 28/31 shots while making some game defining saves in overtime.

The North Stars record now improves to 17-10-3-2 for 39 point on the season, still keeping them at fifth overall in the league and first in their division.

The North Stars have a quick turnaround as they are back at the Access Communications Centre tomorrow night to take on the Melfort Mustangs for the third time this season.

Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. and you can listen to the game with the Napa Auto Parts North Stars Hockey Broadcast on CJNB/CJNS, Ultra Print pregame show starts at 7:00 p.m.

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austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes