By Martin Martinson

North Stars look to strike it rich against Millionaires

Nov 10, 2018 | 1:00 PM

The Battlefords North Stars are 3-1-1 over their last five games, coming off a tough 2-1 shootout loss to the Estevan Bruins last night. The team will be given an opportunity to redeem themselves quickly in front of the hometown crowd, with a game once again this evening, as the club welcomes the Melville Millionaires to the NB Civic Centre.

The Millionaires are 3-2 over their last five games, and are coming off, most recently, a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over the Kindersley Klippers.

The North Stars will see some dramatic lineup changes heading into tonight’s game, at virtually every position.

The Stars’ top line will feature Quintin Loon-Stewardson tonight, manning the left-side boards in compliment to MacGregor Sinclair and Ryan Gil. Loon-Stewardson’s grit and spark should bode well alongside his linemates with his scoring touch having the opportunity to flourish.

This move will also provide the Stars’ brass with an opportunity to shift Matthias Urbanski onto a separate line, forcing the Melville coaching staff to pick their poison, as far as deciding which trio to match up against.

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The second line, featuring Elijah Loon-Stewardson, Braydon Buziak and Owen Lamb is the only unit up front that will remain untouched from last night’s contest.

Matthias Urbanski, who leads the team in both goals, with 11, and points, with 26, will shift to the left wing alongside Brett Gammer and Regan Doig.

Urbanski has shown chemistry with Doig from earlier in the season, and when you add in Brett Gammer, another speedster to the fold, this line should put the Millionaires’ defensemen back on their heels on a shift-in, shift-out basis.

The Wisconsin Wonder, Austin Becker, draws back into the lineup tonight on the fourth unit, as does his centreman for the evening, Kaden Boser. Boser missed the team’s roadtrip last weekend due to illness. Tanner Robin will provide further offensive spark to the group.

On the backend, Stars’ captain, Cody Spagrud will be joined once again by Noah Form on the top pair. This grouping is the prototypical top d-pairing. Bringing size, speed, reach and fluent puck moving ability, the tandem eats minutes against the opposition’s best every night.

Matthew Fletcher and Seth Summers will stick together on pair two, where they have flourished as a twosome and have shown to be another option for the Stars’ coaching staff that can excel in any game situation.

The third pairing is where the Stars see their biggest boost this evening, as defenseman, Jacob Bayne draws back into the lineup off of injury. A legit top four defenseman, Bayne will be eased in a bit tonight to start, with the defender having played only eight games thus far, due to the injury bug.

Bayne’s partner tonight will be Austin Shumanski, who will provide his runningmate with ample support and defensive acumen as per usual.

In goal, 18-year-old, Adam Dmyterko will get his third start of the season, making his fourth appearance overall. The young netminder will hope to build on his sparkling numbers that have seen him post a minute 1.85 GAA, and .935 SV%.

Fans of the North Stars can catch all of the action tonight at the NB Civic Centre and on 1050 CJNB. Pregame will get underway at 7:15 p.m. with 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, T. Robin

Defensemen:

N. Form, C. Spagrud

S. Summers, M. Fletcher

J. Bayne, A. Shumanski

Goaltenders:

A. Dmyterko

J. Grzybowski

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1