North Stars fly into Hawks territory tonight

Hawks goaltender, Declan Hobbs who is the defending Sasktel Top Goaltender from last season, has picked up right where he left off last season, posting staggering numbers through his first 18 games played, including a 1.97 GAA and .938sv%, both top amongst goaltenders league-wide, en route to collecting 10 wins, placing his top three in victories as well.

The North Stars will be counting on their top five offense, led up front by MacGregor Sinclair, who enters action with a team-leading 30 points. Sinclair is joined on the team’s top line by Ryan Gil and Quintin Loon-Stewardson. Loon-Stewardson rides a three-game point streak into action tonight, while Gil has three points over his last two games.

The Stars’ second line, featuring Braydon Buziak between Owen Lamb and Elijah Loon-Stewardson, brings grit and tenacity in addition to their evident chemistry that has seen Lamb pot a team-leading 14 goals already this season, good for sixth in league goal-scoring.

Pivot Brett Gammer anchors unit three, joined by Matthias Urbanski and Regan Doig. Urbanski sits just one goal back of Lamb for the team lead in goals with 13 on the year, and one point back of Sinclair for the team lead in points with 29 to this point in the campaign. Ultimately this depth of scoring should make for a tough matchup test for the Hawks, possessing home ice, and thus, last change in the teams’ showdown tonight.

Kaden Boser, Austin Becker and Dylan Esau on line four bring additional footspeed and workmanship along the boards to the fold, supplying another viable option to log key minutes for their team.

One of the big keys to the Stars’ success as of late has been the offensive contribution of their backend, with four goals from four different defensemen over the team’s last three games.

Two of the team’s defenseman to score recently, Noah Form and Cody Spagrud, man the Stars’ top pair, providing an astute defensive conscious, along with natural offensive inclination to chip in on the offensive.

Seth Summers and Matthew Fletcher make up the team’s second unit, also capable of locking down on the opposition’s finest, while Austin Shumanski will be joined this evening once again by Ryan Granville to solidify pair three.

In goal, 20-year-old netminder Chad Duran will get his first start with the North Stars after being acquired from the La Ronge Ice Wolves, harkening the black and silver of the Stars’ crest for his debut appearance.

Fans of the North Stars can catch all of the action on 1050 CJNB, starting with the pregame show at 7:15 p.m. and puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m.

North Stars lineup at a glance

Forwards:

Q. Loon-Stewardson, M. Sinclair, R. Gil

E. Loon-Stewardson, B. Buziak, O. Lamb

M. Urbanski, B. Gammer, R. Doig

A. Becker, K. Boser, D. Esau

Defensemen:

N. Form, C. Spagrud

S. Summers, M. Fletcher

A. Shumanski, R. Granville

Goaltenders:

C. Duran

J. Grzybowski

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1

by Martin Martinson

North Stars fly into Hawks territory tonight

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