Holmes the hero in streak-snapping win

Photo by Ian Graham

Roy Ettawacappo Jr. scored his first goal of the season Dec. 5 to give the Norman Northstars a 6-5 win over the Interlake Lightning.

Roy Ettawacappo Jr. scored his first goal of the season with 34.3 seconds left in the third period of a tie game Dec. 5 to give the Norman Northstars a 6-5 victory and end a six-game losing streak.

With the Northstars on a power play, Ettawacappo stopped a clearing attempt at the blueline and fired on net, beating Interlake Lightning goaltender Brandon Bzovey.

That the Northstars were in a position to win in was mainly due to captain Quentin Holmes, who scored three straight goals to bring the Northstars back from two goals down, while also assisting on two of his team's other goals.

Holmes got his first goal on a power play with 2:08 left in the second period, firing one past Bzovey on a feed from Justin Valentino. Interlake's Ryan Elliot replied on a Lightning power play just 50 seconds later however, and it looked like the visitors would go into the third with a two-goal cushion. But Holmes notched his second with just 36.1 seconds left in the frame, again set up by Valentino. The Northstars' captain completed the hat trick less than five minutes into the third, blasting a slapshot past Bzovey from the hash marks to tie the game 5-5.

Valentino finished the game with three assists.

Kane McKee opened scoring with his second goal of the season in the first period. Interlake evened things up in the first minute of the middle frame when Brett Stovin got open in front of Ryan Delorme after an offensive zone faceoff and tipped a shot past the Northstars' netminder. The Northstars regained the lead on Roger Tagoona's 19th goal less than three minutes later, scored with his team on the power play. But the Lightning stormed back, as Dylan Favell tied it up again less than one minute later. Interlake took its first lead of the game at the 11:57 mark, when Mackenzie Johnson backhanded the puck past Delorme following a turnover in the neutral zone. The Lightning's fourth came at 6:07 on a two-man advantage, when Favell picked up a rebound off the back boards and tucked it into a wide-open net.

Delorme made 38 saves for the win while the Northstars directed 45 shots on Bzovey.

Interlake got the best of the Northstars one night earlier, handing the home team its sixth straight loss in a 3-1 contest.

Elliot got the scoring started for the Lightning Dec. 4, breaking in alone on Mitchell Backhouse and opening him up with a deke before sliding it between his pads with 5:25 left in the second period. Backhouse kept it a one-goal game by stopping shorthanded chances by Nicco DiGiovannantonio and Elliot before the period expired.

Interlake doubled the lead five minutes into the third when Trent Genyk wired a shot into the top corner. Tagoona got the Stars within one on a rebound of a Cody Zulyniak slapshot 62 seconds later. The Northstars had a faceoff in the Interlake zone with 19.7 seconds left and Backhouse out for the extra attacker, but couldn't generate a shot and Stovin potted an empty net goal.

Shots in the game were 41-30 in favour of Interlake.

The Northstars' record is now 9-15-1 and they trail the Lightning by two points for fourth place in the East Division.

Their final five games of 2009 are on the road, where they will face the Kenora Thistles Dec. 11-12, the Eastman Selects Dec. 13, the Central Plains Capitals Dec. 18 and the Parkland Rangers Dec. 19-20.

The Northstars’ next home games are Jan. 2-3, 2010 when they host the Pembina Valley Hawks.

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