HOUGHTON - A thrilling three-way battle atop the North American Hockey League's North Division is coming to a conclusion, and Hancock's Tanner Kero is right in the thick of it with his Marquette Rangers teammates.
Kero had been in a scoring slump, recording just one goal in six games, before breaking out with two tallies Friday in the Rangers' 7-1 win over Traverse City.
The pair of goals puts Kero at 32 for the season, which still leads his team and the entire league.
However, Traverse City won the next two games of the series 7-3 and 5-3 to take the division lead. The Rangers and North Stars meet tonight at Lakeview Arena to begin a vital final weekend of the regular season for Marquette.
After the single game tonight in which Marquette can tie the division, the Rangers host a pair of games against third-place Janesville. The Jets are a point behind Marquette, but the Rangers have a game in hand. Meanwhile, Traverse City will play against Alpena in a home-and-home Friday and Saturday. The IceDiggers are out of playoff contention.
In the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, the Battlefords North Stars got the better of the Melfort Mustangs in the league's Bauer Conference semifinals, prevailing 4-1 in the best-of-seven series that concluded March 14.
Melfort's Blake Hietala, a Houghton native committed to Michigan Tech, recorded a goal and assist in game one of the series, a 3-2 Melfort win, but Battlefords grabbed 4-2 victories in Games 2 and 3, a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 4 and a 7-4 series-clinching win in Game 5. Hietala was held pointless in the last four games of the series.
Hietala finished the regular season with 31 goals and 32 assists in 57 games, good for third in the league in goals and eighth in points. Hietala led the league in power-play points, getting 14 goals and 14 assists from the man advantage.