The North Stars got their third win of 2025 last night, beating the Melfort Mustangs 3-1. (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

3-1 over Mustangs

North Stars stay flawless in 2025 to end Melfort’s win streak

Jan 8, 2025 | 6:24 AM

The Battlefords North Stars grabbed their third win in a row at the Access Communications Centre Tuesday night as they beat the Melfort Mustangs 3-1 to end that team’s 17-game win streak.

Right out of the gate, the North Stars came ready to play, scoring on their first shot of the game from Seth Dragan to take a 1-0 lead in the first minute.

The North Stars continued to put pressure on the Mustangs early on but as the first period went on, Battlefords started to slow down and got a few penalties which resulted in a power play goal for the Mustangs to tie it 1-1 going into the first intermission.

For the second period, the North Stars and Mustangs traded opportunities, both getting lots of good rushes and shots on net but Justen Maric and Kristian Coombs played solid between the pipes, keeping the second period scoreless.

In the third, the intensity and physicality really started to pick up and the North Stars were able to find a powerplay goal early on coming from Braden Nienaber to increase the lead to 2-1.

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Despite being outshot in the period 13 to 6, Battlefords kept Melfort to the outside and Justen Maric made some big saves to prevent the Mustangs from scoring.

Then nearing the end of the third, Melfort started to put on lots of pressure and eventually pulled their goalie to get an extra attacker. But after a great hustle play by Seth Dragan, he was able to strike the nylon for an empty net goal to make it a 3-1 game for the North Stars.

The Mustangs were able to find the back of the net in the final minute of the period but the goal got called off due to goalie interference.

The North Stars then ran out the clock and celebrated as the 3-1 victory as they stay flawless in 2025 and end the Mustangs 17 game run.

The North Stars got outshot 42 to 21, went one for four on the powerplay and stopped Melfort four out of five times on the penalty kill.

Justen Maric played a phenomenal game stopping 41/42 shots and stood on his head to help the team get the win.

The North Stars now improve to 18-10-3-2 for 41 points on the season, bumping them up to 4th overall in the league.

They are back in action again tonight at the Access Communications Centre as they take on the Notre Dame Hounds with puck drop at 7:30 p.m.

Listen to all the action 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