A chance to sweep the Battlefords North Stars to move on to their first Canalta Cup Finals birth in 19 years while gaining revenge on the team that beat them in 4 straight in the second round last season wasn't quite in the card for the Bruins Tuesday night as they dropped game four by a score of 9-6.

The North Stars came out shooting to defend their playoff lives just 39 seconds in the game when Layne Young wired a shot of Bo Didur's pad that bounced right on to the stick of MacGregor Sinclair for the easy tap in and the 1-0 lead.

From there, the start of a back and forth that would last for the majority begun as the Bruins would get their first powerplay of the game. The Bruins would work a bit of a dump and chase cycle throughout the man advantage, tiring the North Stars out until they got their man back, but the damage was already done. With a tired group of penalty killers on the ice, Johnny Witzke would get the puck in the slot for his first goal of the playoffs just 25 seconds after the power play ended.

The tie would only last about 4 minutes as Elijah Loon-Stewardson would slip the second goal of the game for the North Stars, and they'd add another before the end of the period as Dakota Huebner would net one on the powerplay for his first of the playoffs and the 3-1 lead at the end of the first frame.

Period one saw the most penalties, but the Bruins wouldn't be able to capatalize on any of their 3 chances, while the North Stars went 1 for 1 on the powerplay. Michael McChesney and Matthias Urbanski would each add offsetting two minute minors to the score sheet as well.

The second period started off with rising tensions for the Bruins as Jerzy Martin would take a slashing call to put the team down man, but a penalty kill would prove to be exactly what the team need as Jack Michell would score his first goal in the SJHL in his inaugural game in the league only 17 seconds after the penalty ended.

Again though, the celebration would be cut short as Huebner would pot his second of the game to keep their lead at two, 4-2 Stars.

Both teams would continue to say no to the defensive side of the game as Jerzy Martin again would bring the Bruins back to within one with his first goal of the playoffs, and again, the Battlefords would not wait long to strike again as Garan Magnes would be credited with easily the weirdest goal of the game as Didur would mkae the initial save off his shoulder, but the puck bounced high into the air, off of his back, and would trickle over the line.

The frozen game of ping pong would continue as a questionable goal would be allowed in before the end of the second. Didur would make a save and kick it to the corner off of the shot from Layne Young before being run over by Loon-Stewardson. No call on the play as Didur was slow to get up as a scrum insued in his crease and MacGregor Sinclair would poke the rebound in with just over a minute and a half left in the second, ending the night for goaltender Bo Didur with 6 goals in the net behind him.

With the rink on edge after seeing their leading goaltender run over only feet away from the official, the third period would get off to a rocky start as well. Only two and a half minutes was needed for Keith Anderson to get the first goal passed Matt Lukacs who again had a man bump into him in his crease, extending the lead to three for the first time in the game.

Bruins captain Jake Fletcher brought things close once again at the 9:18 mark with his second of the game, and McChesney would bring the game back to within one on the powerplay just passed halfway through the period, including an assist from Lukacs in the crease at the other end of the ice.

7-6 would be the closest the Bruins would get to a sweep as Matthias Urbanski would get the insurance goal for the North Stars with 2:10 left on the clock, and Cody Spagrud would add an empty netter to seal the victory for the North Stars and the trip back to the Battlefords.

Game 5 will be back in North Battleford at the Civic Centre.

GAME NOTES:

McChesney's goal would put him up at 13 points in the playoffs, good for the team lead while Jake Fletcher's two goals on the night give him the team lead in that statistic with a total of 7.

Jerzy Martin would put a goal and an assist on the score sheet, giving him his first two points of the playoffs. 

With three of their regular players out of the lineup, Jack Michell got his chance at his SJHL debut to make an impression, and the defenceman did just that by potting his first goal in the league.

Bo Didur was pulled at the end of the second period after being run over and letting in his sixth goal of the game on 34 shots. This is the first time Didur has let in more than three goals since March 2nd against Weyburn.

Zach Goberis left the game with four minutes left to play after a collision in the offensive zone, though did return to the bench on his own power before the end of the game.

Up until this game, the Bruins had not trailed for a single second during the playoffs.