North Stars’ 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 2

“It’s taught me a lot,” Blake said, thinking back. “I’ve been a guy who hasn’t played much [as a rookie], and to go from there all the way to an SJHL champion and representative of the league at the [SJHL/MJHL] Showcase, it’s truly special how much this city and this program has taught me. When times get tough, just bear down and work hard and it will all pay off. I’m forever grateful for that.”

North Stars 20s, Brad Blake and Tanner Gold, pictured here at the team’s season kick-off BBQ back in September. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Selected as the North Stars’ Community Ambassador, and voted recipient of the team’s Fan’s Choice Award at their year-end banquet, Blake exemplifies the impact junior players can have on the community around them, and vice versa.

“The community of the Battlefords is so special to me,” Blake said, as a smile crept onto his face. “They welcomed me in with open arms, and over my three years, it’s 100 percent been the best of my life. I can’t even put into words how thankful I am for this city.”

Blake finishes his junior hockey career an SJHL champion (2023), with 103 points (38 goals, 65 assists) in 143 SJHL games, all spent with the North Stars.

#22 Josh Medernach

One of the North Stars’ key acquisitions early in the season, Medernach joined the team from Whitecourt of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) in early November, coming off a Western Hockey League Finals run the year prior with the Winnipeg Ice.

Bringing added veteran experience and intangibles to the fold, Medernach immediately slotted in as a go-to faceoff man and penalty killer with the team, also taking little time to make waves league-wide offensively, earning the SJHL’s Highlight of the Week with a determined effort to score a shorthanded 3-on-5 goal against Melville on just his second tally with the Stars.

Josh Medernach, pictured here in action against the Humboldt Broncos. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Medernach said as he looks back at his final year of junior, he couldn’t have asked for a better place to close things out his 20-year-old season.

“It was exciting times,” he said, thinking back with a smile. “Kian [Bell] came back the same time I did, and I knew Evan Waldie, who’s a good buddy of mine as we grew up together, and it was just a special year with a special group of guys that I’ll truly never forget. I enjoyed every second of it.”

Medernach finishes his junior hockey career with 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) in 56 Junior A games split between the North Stars of the SJHL and Whitecourt of the AJHL. He also tallied an additional nine points (four goals, five assists) in 75 games split between the Red Deer Rebels and Winnipeg Ice of the Western Hockey League.

#29 Evan Waldie

The epitome of ‘glue-guy’, Waldie’s contributions to the North Stars’ locker room went well beyond his totals on the stats sheet.

Always quick with a joke or to share a laugh with a teammate, Waldie’s intangibles were also shown first-hand on the ice, when he dropped the gloves in place of a teammate in Weyburn early in the year.

“I was never really the guy who went out and scored the big goals here, but I just wanted to make sure all the people around me had filled buckets and took part in all the positive stuff around the community because if you’re not scoring goals you’ve got to be doing something,” Waldie said of the niche he carved with the team.

Josh Medernach and Evan Waldie pictured together on the North Stars’ Teddy Bear Toss night, just prior to Christmas. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Part of the 2023 North Stars’ championship roster, Waldie said while their bid for a repeat may have ended a bit short this year, it doesn’t make it any less memorable a group.

“Even though we didn’t win the championship [this year], it felt just as special as last year,” he said. “Of all 25 guys in the room, there’s not one I wouldn’t want knocking on my door or asking to go for a drink or something come two years later. I love all these guys.”

Waldie finishes his junior career with 52 points (17 goals, 35 assists) in 131 games split between the North Stars and the Canmore Eagles of the AJHL, with an additional nine games played with the Winnipeg Ice of the WHL.

#6 Tanner Gold

The captain and defensive cornerstone of the 2024 team, Gold proved himself amongst the best two-way defenders in Junior A hockey over his time with the North Stars.

Setting new career-highs in goals, assists and points over each of his three years with the team, Gold’s 50 points (11 goals, 39 assists) in 51 games ranked fifth amongst defencemen in 2024, while still facing the toughest matchups against the opposition’s best each night.

Tanner Gold, pictured here against the Melville Millionaires in the first round of the playoffs. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Gold said as he looks back at where his junior career began, making the team out of training camp three years ago as an 18-year-old rookie, it’s the relationships made along the way that will stay with him for a lifetime.

“I think just showing up to the rink every day these guys become your brothers, Gold said, reflecting back. “They’re family here, so it’s just awesome what the Battlefords has done for me over the years.

“My first year I remember I was scratched the first seven games, so I was a little nervous, but I was just trying to do whatever I could to make a hockey team. I’m really glad it worked out because [head coach] Brayden [Klimosko] took a chance on me, and there’s no place I would’ve rather been.”

Gold finishes his junior hockey career as an SJHL champion (2023) with 87 points (21 goals, 66 assists) in 143 career SJHL games, all spent with the North Stars.

This concludes Part 2/2, reflecting on the junior careers of the North Stars 20-year-olds. Part 1/2 can be found here.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1

by Martin Martinson

North Stars’ 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 2

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