With a 6-1-1 record in their last eight games to get above .500 for the first time this season, the Kindersley Jr. Klippers were a confident group heading into North Battleford on Tuesday to take on the Battlefords North Stars. They started the game off with some confidence, but from there things fell off and the Klippers lost 3-1.

33 seconds into the game the Klippers scored the first goal of the game. In their first shift the Klippers dumped the puck into the corner where Carson Baylis crashed in on the forecheck and sent the pass out front to Ethan King with some time in the slot, and he whacked the puck at the net before Max Kathol cleaned up the rebound to score his first of the season.

Before the end of the first minute, the Klippers went to the penalty kill for the first and only time of the game, and after the first shot North Stars resulted in a beautiful glove save from Matt Pesenti in net, the Klippers only allowed one more non-dangerous shot while shorthanded and did a good job of clearing the puck down the ice whenever the opportunity came up.

Once the first three minutes of the game were done, the Klippers started to struggle. Through the first half of the period, the Klippers didn't have any sustained pressure in the offensive zone and while they did keep pace on the shot clock, their shots all came from the wall and outside the slot.

At 13:53 into the period, Brenden Lee behind the Klippers net tried to send the puck up the right wall to clear the zone, but instead he he the skate of Colby Bear and the puck popped out into the slot. Zane Florence crashing the net hammered the puck into the back of the net before Pesenti could even react and the game was tied.

With less than two minutes left, the North Stars took the lead on the rush this time when Ryland McNinch came down the right side of the ice along the wall and stopped to let his team catch up, and he passed it back to Ethan Scriven who had a wide open lane towards the net. He skated from the blue line to the hashmarks unimpeded before rifling a wrist shot above Pesenti's glove to make it a 2-1 game.

After 1: Klippers 1 - 2 North Stars, shots 14-12 Klippers

The Klippers powerplay has struggled all year long at about 10% through their first 18 games, but in their last eight games with that 6-1-1 record the Klippers were performing under that number going 3/38, or about 7.9%. The North Stars had a league worst penalty kill coming into the game, and the Klippers got four opportunities in the second period to try and find that spark on the man advantage.

The first two opportunities came together in the form of a full four minutes of powerplay after Chase Friedt-Mohr drew blood when he was high sticked six minutes into the period, and the Klippers earned four shots in that time but nothing that tested Loewen Kenyon in his first SJHL start all too bad. 

After that initial powerplay, the Klippers got a third opportunity that didn't do well and shortly after it ended the Klippers gave up their third goal of the game. With a scrambled unit still on from the powerplay, Jaxon Georget tried to hold the puck in on the left point bust Zane Florence poked it past him, and then got past Ethan Hilbig at centre who misjudged his speed and Florence got in on a partial break. He shot for a rebound in tight, and his linemate Colby Bear scored 13:53 into the second, the same time the two connected in the first.

The Klippers did get one good chance 5-on-5 when Josh Danis went up ice 1-on-1 while his linemates went for a change, and Chase Friedt-Mohr stepped up to surprise the defence for a 2-on-1, and Danis put the shot off the inside pad and the rebound nearly kicked out to his teammate but they couldn't get the bounce their way.

In the last minute of the second, the Klippers got their fourth man advantage of the period that nearly resulted in disaster as Matthew Henry blocked a shot for a breakaway and Pesenti had to pinch the legs together behind him to stop the shot from going in five hole as the buzzer went to end the period.

After 2: Klippers 1 - 3 North Stars, shots 27-24 North Stars, 15-10 North Stars in the period

With just under a minute of powerplay to start the third period, the Klippers again failed to put on any pressure and the man advantage went away. Shortly after the two minute mark though, offsetting minors from Mark Snarr and Emmett Wurst after a scrum in front of the North Stars bench saw the ice open up to 4-on-4, and the Klippers saw probably their best sustained pressure of the game for about a full minute, but still nothing in the back of the net.

Six minutes in, another powerplay would come and go for the Klippers six minutes in, and as we got closer to crunch time it felt like the fight the Klippers had was starting to die off.

In the final two minutes, Matt Mazzocchi would accidentally collide with a North Star in the offensive zone for an interference call, but before the refs blew the whistle the Klippers got a break when Owen Lugowski high sticked a man in front of the net resulting in another 4-on-4 situation. Pesenti went to the bench, essentially giving the Klippers a powerplay to finish the period, but nothing dangerous came together, and the Klippers would fall in the least offensive period of the game.

FINAL: Klippers 1 - 3 North Stars, shots 32-30 North Stars, 6-5 Klippers in the period

One positive to pull away is that the Klippers have now went seven straight games without giving up a goal on the penalty kill, and that penalty kill has outscored their opponents powerplay 5-0 in that time although the Klippers penalty kill hasn't scored since October 29th against La Ronge.

The Klippers will take on the North Stars again in Kindersley on Friday.