North Stars hang on for 2-0 start (Photos added)

The Soo North Stars survived a late game rally to win their second game on the opening day of competition at the 24th Annual Steel City International Hockey Tournament in Sault Ste. Marie.

After building a 3-0 lead, the North Stars hung on for a 3-2 win over Les Elans de Hearst on Thursday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

Following a 2-0 victory over Michigan's Ojibawa Eagles, the North Stars hold a 2-0 record in preliminary round action in the A section of the Midget AAA Major division.

Nick Minardi opened the scoring for the North Stars with 1:05 remaining in the first period of play.

Tyler Gendron increased the lead to 2-0 with his second goal of the tournament 9:01 into the second period.

Gendron cruised in on a two-on-none break and deked Hearst goaltender Francis Albert before scoring with a high backhand shot.

Jake McClelland put the locals ahead 3-0 with a wrap around goal on a delayed penalty call 1:06 into the third period.

But the hard working Hearst club refused to quit and jumped on the board at the 4:55 mark as Daniel Roy beat goaltender Travis O'Brien on a two-on-one rush.

Late in the game after a timeout, Hearst climbed to within one as Roy notched his second of the game with 24 seconds remaining and the goaltender on the bench for an extra attacker.

The North Stars, who are playing the tournament with a short bench, killed the final seconds to hang on for the win.

"You have to give them credit, they are a hard working team. We outshot them 42-19 and we had a lot of chances but we didn't bury them and it almost came back to haunt us," said North Stars head coach Mike Hall. "We controlled the majority of the play and they had a hard time getting out of their own zone."

The North Stars were forced to begin the tournament with just 12 skaters including seven forwards and five defensemen.

"You could tell that our kids were just beat out there. We had to double shift them for two 45 minute games in one day so we are happy to get away with the win. We have now scored six goals for and two against so we're in pretty good shape for goals for and against," said Hall.

Matt Conway and Derrek Coccimiglio are currently out with the flu and may return this weekend while Jason Bird is gone for the weekend after suffering a concussion while skiing during the holiday break.

With all of the North Stars' affiliate teams participating in the tournament, the team has no access to players this weekend to fill their lineup.

"Any other time it would have been an advantage to play twice on the first day because you don't have to play two games again until the last day but in our case, it didn't play to our advantage but we were able to play through it," added Hall.

"We do need to get a couple of guys back because we can't play the whole tournament like this because we will run out of gas and there is no question about that."

On Friday, the North Stars will play a single game at 6:30 p.m. at the Rhodes against the Chicago Huskies.

The North Stars conclude the round robin on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Jr. Penguins at 4:30 p.m. at the Rhodes.