North Stars enjoy rest after weekend sweep

The Soo North Stars will receive a well deserved break after another weekend sweep at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

In their final games before an extended break, the North Stars defeated the Rayside Balfour Jr. Sabrecats 8-1 on Saturday night before taking a 6-2 decision on Sunday afternoon in Great North Midget League play.

The locals, currently on a 16-game winning streak in the GNML, will now take some time away from the rink and will not return to action until the Steel City Tournament January 6-9.

On Sunday, Tyler Gendron and Jason Bird scored twice each to lead the North Stars to the win. Ben Davey scored his first GNML goal of the season and Jake McClelland added another.

Gendron, who has 22 goals on the season, added three assists to his totals while Paul Dupont setup four others. Mike Quesnele recorded two assists and Bird added another.

On Saturday, Zac McNally scored his first two goals of the season and Trevor McNutt added two more in an 8-1 win. Nick Minardi, Dupont, Derrek Coccimiglio and Bird scored one each.

Jake Reid recorded four assists, Minardi and Davey added two each while Bird, McNally, Dupont and Coccimiglio setup one each.

"Lately, the line of Reid, McNally and Minardi have been playing some really good hockey for us," said North Stars head coach Mike Hall. "Gendron's line had a big game (on Sunday) but it seems like a different line comes through for us each game."

Travis O'Brien picked up the win in goal on Sunday while Ryan Dube was credited with the win on Saturday.

Thomas Moore scored the lone Sabrecats goal on Saturday while Jeff Brouse and Kyle Withers scored on Sunday.

Hall also praised the play of Davey, who scored his first goal of the season at the tournament in Waterloo before adding his first GNML marker on Sunday.

"Ben's a stay-at-home defenseman, does his job and is not worried about points," said Hall. "He is a plus-34 this season and that is one thing we really focus on. Plus-minus has always been a stickler with us and our whole team has been impressive.

Hall was a bit worried heading into the weekend after coming off the emotional high of winning the Waterloo Gold Puck Tournament last weekend.

"You are always worried coming off a tournament but especially when you are coming off the emotional high after winning. Usually the kids have a tendency to come out a bit flat their first game back but to their credit, they stayed focused."

Through 26 games this season in the GNML, the North Stars hold a first place record of 23-1-1-1 for 48 points. The team has scored 116 goals while having allowed only 45.

Despite having a huge lead on top of the standings, the North Stars, whose only league loss came on Sept. 26, are focused on eliminating one team at a time until they have clinched first place.

"We have a list going for them right now and we are focused on eliminating teams. With every win we are eliminating teams. We have three teams left to go until we clinch a second consecutive league championship," said Hall.

"Like I said to them in the room, we are all proud of them. A lot of people thought this was our rebuilding year but somebody forget to tell these kids that it is a rebuilding year. They practise hard and play hard and as long as they work hard, they can compete with anyone."