This weekend kicked off the Race for the Canterra Seeds Cup 2024 which saw us taking on the Melville Millionaires for games #1 & #2 at the ACC! As #4 and #5 seed everyone knew to expect a hard fought battle between the two. Friday kicked off with no scoring in the 1st period but plenty of great chances saved by both goalies Dyke for Melville and Cunningham for Battlefords. In the 2nd period at 9:01 we would kick off the scoring with a goal from Ben Portner assisted by Kian Bell & Josh Karman which would give us a 1-0 lead heading into the third. The third period saw lots of emotion from both teams especially after the early powerplay goal from Kian Bell assisted by Alex Izyk & Ben Portner at 3:11. Melville would then get on the board during a power play at 6:50 by Luc Bydal assisted by Bradley Banach and Hudson Norris. With the goalie pulled for Melville and less than 2 minutes to go in the 3rd Kian Bell sends home his second of the night at 18:22 into Melville’s empty net. Melville still wasn’t ready to throw in the towel yet and pulled the goalie yet again with another empty net goal hitting the back of the net from Brayden Sinclair assisted by Kian Bell & Jackson Allan at 19:13 which would solidify the North Stars taking game #1 of this round 1 playoff series.
Stats:
Logan Cunningham saves 31/32 shots
Stars went 1/4 (25%) on the powerplay and 3/4 (75%) on the penalty kill.
Kian Bell 2G, 2A 4pts
Ben Portner 1G, 1A 2pts
Brayden Sinclair 1G, 1pt
Alex Izyk 1A, 1pt
Jackson Allan 1A, 1pt
Josh Karman 1A, 1pt
No time to celebrate the win with Game #2 happening Saturday back at the ACC the lineup saw no changes for Melville or Battlefords from the night before. There was a delay to start the game due to Battlefords having a piece of glass break on their side during warmups, which saw a condensed warmups for Battlefords after the glass was fixed. The stage was set for another tight emotional game between the two clubs North Stars would get on the board first on a powerplay with a goal from Bradley Blake assisted by Ben Portner & Kian Bell at 18:47 in the 1st which then lead to a 1-0 lead for the Stars after 1. Right before the halfway mark of the 2nd period Alex Izyk would get us a 2-0 lead assisted by Brayden Sinclair & Carson Olsen at 9:53. Melville would get on the board nearing the end of the 2nd with a goal from Luc Bydal assisted by Caden Drury & Colby Ball at 18:12 to finish off the 2nd period 2-1 for the Stars. The last period of this game was set to be a hard fought battle which saw the Stars go down to penalty kill for the last 4 minutes of the game to a double minor and then another minor penalty. In the dying minutes of the 3rd period Melville would have a 5 on 3 advantage and 6 on 3 advantage but was unable to capitalize due to our 3 workhorses Josh Medernach, Alex Izyk & Tanner Gold which would lead to the Stars taking game #2 in a tight battle for a final score of 2-1.
Stats:
Logan Cunningham saves 27/28
Stars went 1/2 (50%) on the powerplay and 7/7 (100%) on the penalty kill
Bradley Blake 1G 1pt
Alex Izyk 1G 1pt
Ben Portner 1A 1pt
Kian Bell 1A 1pt
