On Dec. 2, the Norman Northstars finally snapped their season-long winless streak through beating the Central Plains Capitals by a final score of 6–5.
After a 8–5 loss to the Capitals on Friday, the Northstars’ offence showcased renewed zeal the following night at the C.A. Nesbitt Arena, scoring three goals in a row in the first 14 minutes of the game.
“They came out fired up,” said head coach James Buchanan. “We’ve been getting lots of chances to score lately. But to be able to put those three away really quickly in the first period, it makes the game a little bit easier as you move forward.”
Even though the Capitals answered back with a couple goals of their own, the Northstars never gave up their initial lead, making it a 5–2 contest heading into the third period.
While the Capitals narrowed the Northstars’ lead to 5–3 at the beginning of third, the rest of the period was largely scoreless, with both teams getting their fair share of chances throughout.
All of these close calls came to a head during the last 60 seconds of the game, which proved to be the most nail-biting section of the entire 60-minute contest.
First, after the Capitals pulled their goaltender, forward Mitchell Wilson managed to score with 42 seconds left in the game, cutting the Northstars’ lead to a single goal.
Northstars forward Jerome Linklater responded with an empty net goal seconds later, a move that seemingly guaranteed his team’s victory.
But the Capitals simply wouldn’t give up, as Wilson once again put one past Northstars goalie Braedin Melsted with only six seconds left on the clock to make it 6–5.
The Capitals even managed one final rush on net in the dying seconds of the contest, although this last flurry of offence proved unsuccessful.
“It’s a big win,” said Buchanan. “It’s definitely a sigh of relief to get the weight off of our shoulders and come away with the win. It was a good feeling.”
According to Buchanan, the biggest difference between this game and one of his team’s less successful outings was their ability to maintain a certain level of consistency throughout.
“We were able to play hard for pretty well that whole 60 minutes,” he said. “To be able to not have that really bad stretch of time in the game and keep battling and work through it, that was probably the biggest key for us yesterday.”
Even though his team is still stuck in last place in the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League, Buchanan believes that this victory will help them finish 2017 on a strong note.
“They’ve shown that they are capable of playing at this level, so now it’s about making sure we maintain and we keep pushing forward.”
After a series of away games next weekend, the Northstars will be back on home ice Dec. 15–16, where they will be taking on the 11th place Kenora Thistles. These will be their last games before the holiday break.
