After suffering a crushing 10–1 defeat at the hands of the Kenora Thistles on Friday, Dec. 15, the Norman Northstars miraculously bounced back with a 5–4 shootout victory the following night at the C.A. Nesbitt Arena.
Unlike Friday’s matchup, the Northstars generated some offence right out of the gate on Saturday, with forward Jonathan Saunders scoring 2:20 into the first period.
While the Thistles answered back 10 minutes later to make the score 1–1 at the end of the first, the second period featured a flurry of goal-scoring opportunities, mostly due to the fact that both teams accumulated 24 minutes worth of penalties in that time.
When the dust settled at the end of the second, the Northstars held a slight 4–3 lead heading into the third.
In stark contrast, the third period was characterized by a strong defensive game from both teams, as well as some stellar saves from Northstars goalie Keian Weseen.
Unfortunately, the Northstars got into some penalty trouble halfway through the third, which allowed Thistles forward Cooper Witherspoon to tie things up and send the game into overtime.
Since both teams were unable to find the back of the net in the extra frame, they had to settle things in a shootout.
Northstars forward Keistin Saunders was the only one who managed to score throughout the three rounds of this shootout, thereby securing his team’s victory by a final of 5–4.
With this win in the bag, the Northstars will finish out 2017 with a 2–26–1 record, which means they are still in last place in the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League.
Looking at individual player stats, forward Hunter Rambow is leading his team with 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) and is closely followed by Jerome Linklater, Sheldin Howard and Mitchell Reid.
However, just because the Northstars are ending the year on a good note doesn’t mean that 2018 is going to be any easier, since they will be regularly facing off against Winnipeg based clubs like the Bruins, Wild and Thrashers until the end of the regular season.
As it stands, the Northstars will kick-off their first home series of 2018 on Jan. 5–6, where they will be taking on the sixth place Pembina Valley Hawks.
