Mikey Baron scored 2:21 into overtime to give the Norman Northstars a 5-4 win over the Eastman Selects on the first game of a three-game road trip Jan. 12.
Jamie Valentino had tied the game about halfway through the third period after Troy Beauchemin gave the Selects the lead earlier in the final frame. The score went back and forth throughout the game, with Sheldin Howard opening the scoring in the first period and Matthew Hill tying it up with his first of the game for Eastman. Hill tied the game 2-2 in the second period after Jonathan Saunders gave the Northstars a 2-1 lead less than four minutes after the first intermission ended. Mitchell Reid put the Northstars ahead once again with five minutes to go in the middle frame before Rylan Hoffman scored on a Selects’ power play to tie the game 3-3 heading into the third.
Braedin Melsted made 38 saves to earn the win for the Northstars, who were outshot 42-37.
The Northstars stumbled in the first period of the second game of the road trip Jan. 13 giving up four goals to the Interlake Lightning before matching them tally for tally in the final 40 minutes.
Emmitt Farebrother, Jaytey Towle, Keenan McPherson and Corey Soorsma scored in the first period for the Lightning, the latter three on the power play. Jerome Linklater got the Northstars on the board in the second period and Hunter Rambow scored later in the frame, with their goals sandwiching McPherson’s second goal of the game. Saunders scored early in the third to make it a 5-3 Interlake lead before Dylan Fontaine and Evan Palmer got the last two goals of the game for the Lightning. Shots were 47-37 for Interlake and Melsted made 40 saves in the loss.
The road trip ended with a 13-3 loss Jan. 14 to the Winnipeg Bruins, who scored seven times in the first period and four times in the third, while getting outscored 3-2 in the middle frame.
Jordan Pfoh, Frederick Ledoux and Valentino had the goals for the Northstars, while Ashton Klassen led the Bruins with four goals. Jayson Szun and Kyle Lang each had a pair of goals for Winnipeg, with Patrick Comeau, Luc Masse, Nathanael Hinds, Graeme Patrick and Colby Jaquet adding singles. The Bruins outshot the Northstars 53-22 and Keian Weseeen was tagged with the loss after giving up four goals on six shots in less than six minutes of play. Mested stopped 38 of 47 shots he faced in relief.
The Northstars are on the road again this weekend to take on the Brandon Wheat Kings, Southwest Cougars and Parkland Rangers.
