North Stars tame Sabrecats in season opener

The Soo North Stars couldn't have asked for a better start with an 8-2 win over the Rayside Balfour Sabrecats.

Tyler Gendron scored two goals and added two assists to pace the North Stars to the win in their Great North Midget League season opener on Saturday afternoon at the John Rhodes Centre.

"We're excited. That was the kind of a start we were looking for and I think the kids were tired of practising and they needed to play," said North Stars head coach Mike Hall.

"We got scoring from all three lines, which was nice to see, and I think our defense played really well today. If their goaltender didn't play as well as he did, the score could have been much worse. There are some things we need to work on but that is to be expected after the first game."

Michael Sharp added two goals and an assist for the North Stars while single goals went to Matt Caria, Zac Torquato, Adam Kauppi and Lucas Goodall. Mike D'Agostino, Matt D'Agostino and Kyle Rodgers added two assists each. Goodall and Torquato also added an assist.

Michael Maulucci went the distance in net for the North Stars, who outshot Rayside 49-17.

"We are going to compete this year but it is tough to gauge where we stand at this point of the season because we haven't had a chance to see any of the teams yet. But we feel that we have some really strong offense this year and they displayed that today," said Hall.

The North Stars return to action next weekend with a pair of games against Kapuskasing at the Rhodes Arena. Game times are 7 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.