The Battlefords North Stars have taken a strangle hold in their playoff series with Yorkton.
The Stars headed into the contest Tuesday evening at the Farrell Agencies Arena in Yorkton up two-games-to-none in the best-of-seven Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League semi-final.
The Stars also struck first in game three when Brett Gammer potted a goal at 14:23 of the first period.
That would be it for offence as Terrier netminder Ryan Ouellette would not allow another goal in facing 41-shots.
However, the Terrier goaltender would be out done by Joel Grzybowski who held the line for a shut-out his second straight in the series, facing 30-shots.
The 1-0 win gives Battlefords a three-games-to-none lead in the series, with game four in Yorkton Wednesday.
Terrier head coach Mat Hehr said the Terriers were close in game three, but at times did not play very inspired hockey.
“I liked our last 30-minutes, I didn’t like our first 30,” he said, adding the Terriers didn’t get into the game emotionally until Cole Keenleyside took a 10-munite misconduct late in the second period which seemed to get the Terriers playing more desperate hockey.
But, they still not score.
“It all comes down to execution,” he said, adding the Terriers need “to find a way to beat Grzybowski.
The problem, as Hehr saw it was that the Terriers weren’t battling through “to get to the gritty areas,” that area in front of the net where rebounds are found.
Looking at game four Hehr said the Terriers don’t want to bow out of the playoffs on home ice.
“We’ve just got to focus on one game at a time,” he said, adding they win Wednesday and head to Battlefords to steal one in their barn, then go from there.
In the other semi-final series Estevan used home ice to their advantage to defeat Melfort 3-2. Melfort leads the series two-games-to-one.
