The North Stars sit just a win away from clinching first overall in the SJHL standings, heading into their final 10 games of the season. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Entering season stretch

North Stars top CJHL Rankings for 14th time in 15 weeks

Feb 14, 2023 | 9:45 AM

Make it 14 weeks in the last 15, the Battlefords North Stars have been the top-ranked team in the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL), with the release of this week’s CJHL Top 20 Rankings.

The Stars are coming off a 7-2 victory over Notre Dame in its lone game of the weekend, to extend its winning streak to six straight, and officially hit the 40-win plateau in just 46 games this season.

Now 40-3-2-1 with 83 points on the year, the team head into its final 10 games of the regular season schedule 20 points up on second place Flin Flon with 63 points.

Rounding out the top five in the CJHL Rankings this week are the #2 Cobras de Terrebonne (35-5-0-0) of the LHJAAAQ, the #3 Brooks Bandits (46-5-1-1) of the AJHL, and the #4 Toronto Jr. Canadiens (40-4-2-2) and #5 Collingwood Blues (38-7-0-1) of the OJHL.

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In addition to the team’s success, the North Stars also enter the final 10 games of the regular season with a number of players on the brink of achieving something special down the stretch.

Among them are forwards, Kian Bell and Holden Doell, and defenceman Tynan Ewart.

Bell has 43 goals through his first 41 games, needing just seven more in his final 10 games to become the first North Stars player to hit the 50-goal mark since his uncle over 30 years ago.

Doell, who leads the SJHL with 79 points in 39 games also leads the league in points per game (2.03) and can become just the second player since the turn of the 21^st Century to lead the league in points while averaging over two points per game. Yorkton Terriers alum, Chantz Petruic is the only other player to do so in the last 20-plus years, scoring 109 points in 52 games during the ’19-20 season.

On the backend, Ewart has 45 points in 45 games and needs just four points to tie Matthew Fletcher and Seth Summers (49 apiece in ’19-20) for the most by a North Stars defenceman in the last decade-plus. Ewart needs just seven to equal North Battleford’s Fraser Allan’s 52-point mark (in 58 games) set back in the ’06-07 season.

Heading into play this weekend, with back-to-backs in Flin Flon, the North Stars sit just two points back of locking up first overall in the league standings.

Both games Friday and Saturday night, against the rival Bombers, will be available on 1050 CJNB. The Ultra Print Pregame Show will begin at 7 p.m. with puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m. on the NAPA Auto Parts North Stars Hockey Broadcast.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1