The North Stars play Notre Dame tonight at the Access Communications Centre, puck drop at 7:30 p.m. (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

Battlefords North Stars Preview

‘Have to ride our confidence’: North Stars get ready for Notre Dame and Humboldt

Oct 8, 2024 | 12:24 PM

It’s a packed slate of hockey for the Battlefords North Stars this week as they play three games, starting today with their matchup against the Notre Dame Hounds at the Access Communications Centre.

This will be the first time the North Stars and Hounds face-off against each other this season. Going into tonight, the North Stars are 3-2 and have a three-game win streak while the Hounds are 1-5 and just came off of their first win of the season over the Nipawin Hawks.

Taking a look at last season, Battlefords and Notre Dame played each other six times and the North Stars went 5-1 in those games. Over the past five years, the Hounds have really struggled against the North Stars, only winning four games out of 20.

The Hounds have been led this season by Neka Jean, Ian Bours and Nick Beatty. Jean, who is a rookie, already has one goal and six assists on the season for seven points. Bours leads the team in goals with four, while having one assist in six games and Beatty is second in team goals with three, while having one assist as well.

Despite only winning one game, the Hounds have had some close games with Flin Flon and Melville, and with their strong young core along with seasoned veterans like Marko Djordjevic, Liam Hunks and Vincent Palmarin, they could surprise a lot of people.

SASK VOTES

Saskatchewan Party promises increase in tax credits for persons with disabilities

48m ago

Battlefords North Stars Preview

'Have to ride our confidence': North Stars get ready for Notre Dame and Humboldt

3h ago

ACCREDITED CHAMBER

Battlefords Chamber earns second national accreditation; sees growth in Saskatchewan

5h ago

Coach of North Stars, Owen Lamb, said playing hard and keeping confidence is key for tonight’s game.

“The biggest thing is we just have to ride our confidence for now, making sure we have a good practice, get the feet going and just feeling good going into the game. Notre Dame is a young team, we expect them to work hard and play fast. So, we’re just trying to prep for that.”

After tonight’s game, the North Stars will take a few days break before they are back in action on Friday, Oct. 11 and Saturday, Oct. 12 for a weekend series against former Head Coach Brayden Klimosko and the Humboldt Broncos.

This has been a long-anticipated matchup since Klimosko’s departure this past summer and you can bet it is going to be a good battle between two strong teams.

The Broncos currently sit at 4-1-1 on the season with losses only to Kindersley and Yorkton. They are being led by Jacob Strizzi, who in six games, already has five goals and three assists and is seventh in league scoring. On top of that, they also have a long depth chart of top scores like Tre Fouquette, Gabriel Fillion and Boris Kofman, who are all top 20 in SJHL scoring.

Last season, when these two teams played each other, there were some good battles, but it was the North Stars who were more successful, going 4-2 in the six games they played. Over the past five seasons, the story looks a little different with Humboldt having more success, going 12-7-0-1 over Battlefords.

The North Stars will look to find success through players like Rylan Williams, Colton Getzlaff, Jackson Allan, Nikita Ivashchenko and Anthony Campbell. Williams and Getzlaff lead the team in points with six each and have had a point in every single game so far this season. Allan, Ivashchenko and Campbell have also been big contributors, all having five points in five games this season.

The team will also need big production from leading goal scorers Braden Nienaber and Elijah Anderson, who both have three goals on the season.

Then on the back-end, veterans Gavin Granger and Jordan Grill have been leading the charge and will need to continue to do the same this week.

Granger was recognized for his performance this past week, being awarded the SJHL Sask. Player of the Week for getting three assists in two games.

“Of course, it’s going to be a challenge. I know they’ll be well coached from playing under Brayden back in my time with the North Stars, it’s going to be a good match. I know I’m excited and all the boys are excited and just be ready for a good week in hockey,” Lamb said about the weekend matchup against Humboldt.

Puck drop for tonight and Friday’s game is 7:30 p.m. at the Access Communications Centre. You can listen to both games live on CJNB/CJNS with the pregame show starting at 7 p.m.

Then for Saturday’s game, it will be broadcasted on 93.3 Beach Radio with pre-game show starting at 6:30 p.m. and puck drop at 7 p.m. at the Elgar Petersen Arena.

—

Austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes