North Stars rally falls short

Robby Polipnick and Preston Pung do their best to protect the middle of the ice for goalie Justin Brever in Friday's action.

Tyler Schultz gets an early break on a face off in the North Stars' zone.

The Prairie Centre North Star hockey team had several scoring chances throughout Friday night's game against their rival neighbor Alexandria, but fell short 3-2.

The Stars' Nate Mettenburg scored his first tally of the year as the teams skated to a 1-1 tie after two periods. Prairie Centre outshot Alex 22-14 through the first two frames.



But Alexandria scored two quick goals in the third and it appeared the Stars were running out of gas. But with 1:38 left senior defenseman Derek Holm rifled home a shot from the half boards - a tough angled shot that somehow found the back of the net. The Stars had already pulled goalie Justin Brever and kept him off the ice for a chance to tie. They had a few scrums around the net in the final minute but couldn't get off any point blank quality shots.

It was a hard-fought game and got a little chippy at the end. The referees directed the Alexandria players to exit the ice first without shaking hands. There seemed to be some confusion from the coaching staffs on why the kids didn't shake hands, but the coaches did exchange handshakes in what turned out to be an entertaining game between crosstown foes.