By Martin Martinson

North Stars aim for bounce back in round two against Bombers

Jan 26, 2019 | 2:00 PM

Coming off a 5-2 loss last night to the Flin Flon Bombers, the Battlefords North Stars return to action tonight for their second of back-to-backs against the Bombers this weekend, again taking place at the Whitney Forum in Flin Flon.

The North Stars are 24-12-8 through 44 games heading into Saturday night. With 56 points, the team sits third in the Global Ag. Risk Solutions Division, thanks to a Broncos win last night that saw Humboldt take a 4-3 overtime win over Notre Dame to leapfrog the Stars in the standings.

The victory moved the Broncos just a single point up on the Battlefords for second in the division. The Stars however, still hold two games in hand on Humboldt.

For Flin Flon, with their 5-2 win Friday night over the Stars, the Bombers remain the hottest team in the league heading into Saturday night’s contest, having won 8-straight games.

Flin Flon is now 28-13-2 on the season, sitting second in the Sherwood Division with 58 points.

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Friday night saw a rough and tumble affair, with the two teams combining for nearly 160 penalty minutes. The Stars finished the night 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Bombers finished 2-for-8.

Flin Flon’s two power play goals, both coming in the opening period, ultimately provided the difference in the game, as Friday was just a two-goal-game at 4-2 until the final five seconds of the third when Bombers’ forward, Caleb Moretz scored an empty net goal to make it a three-goal advantage at 5-2.

Defending SJHL Player of the Week, Chrystopher Collin who scored a hattrick in the first period, including each of his team’s two power play markers in the first, enters play as the hottest player in the league. Collin has scored five goals and seven points in his last three games.

Collin’s teammate, Bombers’ forward Nate Hooper, is coming off a three-assist effort that has moved the center into second in the league scoring race with 67 points.

Stars’ forwards, MacGregor Sinclair and Braydon Buziak are both coming off multipoint efforts as well, each factoring in on the two North Stars’ goals.

Matthias Urbanski, who left Friday’s game in the first period with an upper body injury, will miss tonight’s game. Owen Lamb did not make the trip to Flin Flon and remains day-to-day as well, so the Stars will dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

In goal, the Battlefords will once again turn to Joel Grzybowski.

Grzybowski is coming off a performance Friday that saw the netminder stop 28 of the 32 shots he faced, keeping his team in the game and helping his side kill six of the eight Bombers’ power plays.

Fans can catch tonight’s action on 1050 CJNB beginning with the pregame show at 7:15 p.m. with puck drop at 7:30 p.m.

North Stars lineup at a glance

Forwards:

B. Buziak, M. Sinclair, R. Gil

Q. Loon-Stewardson, XXXX, E. Loon-Stewardson

A. Becker, D. Esau, B. Gammer

K. Boser, D. Heino, R. Doig

Defensemen:

T. Scott, C. Spagrud

S. Summers, M. Fletcher

A. Shumanski, R. Granville

N. Form

Goaltenders:

J. Grzybowski

C. Duran

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1