The Estevan Bruins and Battlefords North Stars put on a show on February 2, in Battlefords. The two teams hit each other with everything they had in a shooting gallery game that, fittingly, ended in a shootout.

Bruins captain Jake Fletcher potted a hat trick, but the North Stars, who never trailed in the game, took it in a shootout.

Battlefords got the scoring started on a weird play early in the first, when the puck pinballed around in the Bruins crease, hitting feet, shoulders, and finally a head as it dropped in behind Bo Didur. Chaseton Braid got credit for the goal at 2:23 of the first.

Fletcher got the score back to a tie with an even weirder one shorthanded. With the Bruins down a man for too-many-men, Jake Heerspink dumped the puck down the ice and into Battlefords territory. The North Stars bench watched in horror as the puck bounced away from goaltender Joel Grzybowski and out front to Fletcher, who had a tap in from less than a stick-length from the goal line.

Layne Young, the North Stars captain and SJHL-leading scorer left his stamp on the game, reaching out to tip in a pass from Cole Johnson off an odd-man rush. But in the second period, Fletcher evened the score once again, this time sitting on the doorstep and swatting home the rebound of a McGeady-Bruce point shot to knot the game at 2.

Before the period was over, Battlefords regained their lead as young put the puck on a tee for Garan Magnes, who blasted one low to the glove side on Didur. But Fletcher struck again in the third, busting down the right wing side and rifling a shot to the top corner on his off wing.

The three-all tie stood until overtime, and despite furious pressure from the North Stars the game went to a shootout, thanks in no small part to some inspired work by Didur in the crease. In the shootout, however, Grzybowski turned aside Michael McChesney, Zach Goberis, and Kaelan Holt in succession, and Braid scored on the final shot for Battlefords to win it.

The loss drops the Bruins to 1-1-1 on the current road trip, which wraps up on February 3 in Humboldt for a rematch with the Broncos. Catch that game at 7:30 on Rock 106.

HIGHLIGHTS:

GAME NOTES

Fletcher’s hat trick gives him 21 goals on the season. He is the fourth Bruin to surpass 20 goals this year. Arthur Miller and Hayden Guilderson are sitting on 16 goals apiece.

Kaelan Holt moved his point streak to two games, as did Hayden Guilderson, with two assists each. Holt now has a career-high 57 points. Guilderson has long since passed his previous high of 35, and now sits with 46 points in 47 games.

Bo Didur made 34 saves on 37 shots, and continues to have a save percentage well above .900. He leads the Bruins in both save percentage and GAA.

Layne Young’s goal moves him into a tie with Zach Goberis and teammate Macgregor Sinclair for first in the SJHL with 27 goals. He has 84 points in 44 games, and is on pace to be the first player in the SJHL with over 100 points since the 2010-2011 season.