Continue reading »]]> It was the first and only goal delivered all game which sealed the win for the North Stars tonight following a Saturday loss against the same team – the Sydney Ice Dogs.

With 1.03 left on the clock and the scoreboard at 0-0, Dominic Osman, who had been chipping away at the Dogs’ Anthony Kimlin all night, finally scored against the visiting team to take it to 1-0 and win the game for the North Stars.

In short, it was a bizarre game.

The first period went by with not much recorded – no penalties, no goals, not much at all except up and down hockey.

The second period went by in a similar fashion until Tomas Manco earned himself two minutes in the penalty box for holding.

Third period and still 0-0, an unprecedented scoreline in the AIHL.

Both teams looked hungrier to break the stalemate in the third. Action finally converted into a goal for the North Stars with 10 minutes left in the game, but Jeff Martens’ goal was waved off due to the whistle already blown before the puck found the back of the net.

Minutes later Kimlin, for apparently no reason, kicked his own net off the moorings, threw his stick and mask for a gentle skate around. A quick chat with the ref and the game re-started.

Osman continued to chip away, each time the puck just flying over the top of the net until finally, with 1.03 left and short-handed nonetheless, he managed the impossible and scored.

A deafening roar filled the stadium and stayed loud for the remainder of the game to be played out. Kimlin was pulled for an extra forward, but no dice. The North Stars won 1-0.

It concluded what had been hailed the “top of the ladder” clash between the two teams where the Ice Dogs – at the top – faced the second ranked North Stars.

Tonight’s game was recorded by Fox to be the game of the week. It will air on Thursday.

Continue reading »]]> It was a slow start but a successful 4-2 finish for the North Stars tonight who faced the Sydney Bears at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium.

The first goals only came in the second period – and from the Bears.

A goal from the Slavomir Boris was quickly followed by one from Branden Stobbs. Tim Stanger finally got one around goaltender Renars Kazonovas to end the second 2-1.

Five minutes in to the third Dominic Osman slammed the equaliser home behind Kazonovas.

The game went back and forth stuck at 2-2 until the final three minutes when Jeff Martens collected a rebound and drove it home around Kazonovas.

Beau Taylor sealed the deal with a fourth and final goal, ending the game in the North Stars’ favour.

The North Stars walk away from this weekend with six points after their resounding 9-1 win against the Canberra Knights in the capital on Saturday night.

It was quite a different result from round four (May 11 and 12) when the North Stars faced the same two teams in one weekend and walked away with a double loss.

Continue reading »]]> In a thrilling finish following a fanatical game the Newcastle North Stars took away a second win in their second meeting with the Melbourne Ice tonight.

After trailing 3-0 to the Ice for most of the game, things were not looking like they would end in Newcastle’s favour.

However, the home side prevailed, winning 4-3 against one of their toughest competitors this season.

The game was classic Newcastle-Melbourne: fast, hard and grudging.

The first goal was delivered by Melbourne’s Matt Armstrong followed by Tommy Powell and Todd Graham to end the first period 3-0.

A disorganised North Stars team started getting their rhythm back in the second period, but not enough to break ahead any further than 3-1.

The North Stars first goal was delivered by powerhouse John F. Kennedy.

An entirely different Newcastle outfit hit the ice in the third period with a Jeff Martens goal coming 48 seconds in.

Minutes later Dave Upton equalled the game but it was Adam Geric who gained the loudest crowd cheer, taking the game to 4-3 where it stayed for the remaining five minutes of the game.

Melbourne could possibly credit their loss to the time their players spent in the penalty box.

While Newcastle were dealt 10 penalties – including Beau Taylor being served and Matt Lindsay getting a misconduct – Melbourne earned themselves 13 with Chris Frank personally serving four penalties.

Goaltender Olivier Martin faced 38 shots for three goals while Melbourne goalie, Dahlen Phillips, faced 25 shots for four goals.

Continue reading »]]> The Newcastle North Stars won 7-4 against the Adelaide Adrenaline tonight at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium.

The game ended in fiery form as Adelaide import Charlie Huber was stretchered off following a collision with Newcastle’s Hamish Powell with one minute left on the clock.

Huber landed heavily on the ice, going motionless.

A series of fights broke out after, continuing as the game re-started.

Before the final few minutes the game had gone on quite amenably.

Adrenaline’s Josef Rezek scored the opening goal but the North Stars finally converted their shots on goal, scoring two quick ones to end the first period 2-1.

Dominic Osman continued putting Newcastle points on the board, but Adelaide’s David Manning made sure the North Stars didn’t pull too far ahead, answering with a goal of his own to take it to 3-2.

Two minutes to go in the second Beau Taylor, a constant presence in the game, made it known he was there, scoring to take it to 4-2.

Once again Adrenaline cut the lead down a little, David Huxley scoring with 30 seconds remaining to see the second period end 4-3.

Taylor extended the North Stars’ lead to 5-3 a mere 16 seconds into the remaining period, followed by a Jeff Martens goal.

Adelaide import Luc Blain notched up one more for the South Australian side but a final goal by Dominic Osman sealed the deal.

The North Stars have now played all AIHL teams.

Continue reading »]]> The Proski North Stars have returned from their Victorian road trip with the maximum 6 competition points, just one week after losing two games in NSW.

Their wins have jumped them from third to first in Australian Ice Hockey League standings with 15 competition points, 1 point ahead of the Sydney Ice Dogs.

Coach/GM Garry Doré was effusive in his praise following the Sunday night game, after the North Stars followed up their 4-2 win over the Mustangs with a 2-0 shutout of the highly-rated Melbourne ice.

Local forward Nick Quirk repaid Coach Garry Doré’s faith in promotion by scoring twice on Saturday vs the Mustangs

“We had a game plan and it went out way.”

Short two top four defenceman and his sharp-shooting import Pier Cotnoir, Doré’s substitutions successfully countered the disadvantage.

Promoted local players Nick Quirk and Matt Wetini both featured in the team’s success, Quirk scoring twice on Saturday.

Import centre Jeff Martens continued to be an outstanding asset for Newcastle, scoring two goals and dominating other teams at the faceoff dot.

Martens was one of several praised by Doré after the game.

“Jeff Martens had a great game, Dominic was real strong, JFK [John Kennedy Jr] was the backbone of the defensive corp, and Ray, Jaysen and Matt Lindsay supported the game plan.

“We worked so hard that Melbourne Ice didn’t have an answer – the plan paid off.

The greatest praise was reserved for goaltender Olivier Martin.

“Olivier was brilliant.

“Olivier backed up and had an outstanding shutout tonight.”

The North Stars return home to face the Adelaide Adrenaline next Saturday night at 5pm.

Continue reading »]]> Looking to the weekend on Friday night, the North Stars would not have been expecting to end up with two losses after a previous three game win streak.

But two losses is what they got.

Against the Sydney Bears on Saturday night the North Stars lost 2-1 – being served up the same cold hard result they delivered the Bears in Newcastle’s first home game.

Against the Canberra Knights at home tonight, Sunday, they went down 4-3.

The Knights took the early lead in Sunday’s game, leading 1-0 until Jeff Martens tied it up 1-1.

Players went off the ice with 36 seconds remaining while the ice was cleaned of blood.

Back onto fresh ice, the remaining 36 seconds were played followed by a brief pause then straight into period two.

Two quick goals by the North Stars 11 minutes into the second period saw them streak ahead to 3-1.

That gap started to close with eight minutes remaining, then five minutes as two Canberra goals slipped past Josh Broekman.

Tied up at 3-all, it started to get tense.

Even more so when the Knights surpassed the home team, 4-3.

Olivier Martin took over netminding duties for the third period, keeping out any more Canberra goals.

But Knights goalie Chris Slauenwhite put on the performance of his life, killing every chance the North Stars attacked him with to try and score.

It was a mad dash out on the ice all game, but it just intensified with five minutes remaining.

The North Stars just could not catch a break against the Knights defence – and goaltender.

With one second remaining it looked like a sure goal for the North Stars – the puck flirting with the red line.

But Slauenwhite was there – somehow – to stop the puck, and help his team walk away with three points for their weekend.

Canberra goal scorers: #10 Jordan Braid (import) – 3 goals, 0 asssists. #19 Jordan Gavin – 1 goal, 0 assists.

North Stars goal scorers: #10 Jeff Martens – 1 goals, 0 assists. #22 Dominic Osman – 1 goal, 0 assists. #16 Adam Geric – 1 goal, 0 assists. Honourable mention: #14 Pier-Olivier Cotnoir – two assists.

Continue reading »]]> From one extreme to another is what fans have experience these past two home games.

Last Sunday the Newcastle North Stars struggled to get pucks in the net and points on the board against the Sydney Bears. This week they netted 13 against the Perth Thunder.

Two home games, one week a part, and so very different.

Tonight’s game against the Thunder was fast, action packed and full of penalties and goals.

The very first goal came from import Dominic Osman a mere 12 seconds in.

“That has to be close to an AIHL record,” coach Garry Dore said.

A few minutes after that came the very first penalty on Perth’s Aaron Hoffman for boarding. Then both penalties and goal just kept coming.

By the end of the night the Thunder recorded 11 penalties (two in the first, seven in the second and two in the third) and the North Stars seven (two in the first, five in the second and one in the third). But it wasn’t the penalties that astounded everyone – it was the goals.

After Osman set the little red light alight, in swooped Dave Upton with a breakaway.

It was Perth’s defensive gaffes allowing the North Stars the opportunity to take the puck and “run” with it that cost them. Many times a North Star had the puck, there was no stopping putting it around the goalie and into the back of the net.

As Newcastle’s Matt Wetini served a 2+10 for checking from behind, Osman again scored. A few more penalties and a Rob Starke goal ended the first period 4-0.

The tension was thick going in the second period and a scuffle broke out in the North Stars’ crease seeing two players apiece (Osman, Cotnoir, Sam Wilson and Brad Young) sent to the penalty box for roughing.

It was Adam Geric who scored the North Stars fifth, followed by Pier-Olivier Cotnoir for a seventh. With less than five minutes left in the second period Ken Rolph put a goal on the board for the Thunder, 6-1.

It was so quiet in the stadium Rolph’s goal could of almost not happened.

One more from Cotnoir ended the second period 7-1.

Perth coach Stan Scott switched out goalies going into the final period. Aiden Milward replaced Michael Smart, but it wasn’t enough to stop the barrage of goals.

One minute into the third period import Jeff Martens scored, then again with a blue line slap shot that simply sailed past Milward. Upton took the North Stars into double digits, 10-1.

North Stars junior goaltender Josh Broekman relieved Olivier Martin in net just before Jaysen Chalker took the North Stars to 11-1. One more from Martens saw him earn a hat trick – his second from three games. After a scramble in front of the North Stars net Perth’s David Ruck scored, taking the game to 12-2.

One more from Upton, and also a hat trick from him, ended the game 13-2.

“In this league, scoring 13 goals is quite impressive,” Dore said. ”I’m pretty happy with the result.”

Dore said he could not name any stand out players, because the entire team played exceptionally well.

Two home games, one week a part, and so very different – but still an awesome display of ice hockey which will look great on Fox Sports when it airs on Thursday.

Goal scorers: #22 Dominic Osman (I) – 2 goals, 2 assists.

#96 Dave Upton – 3 goals, 0 assists.

#4 Rob Starke – 1 goal, 3 assists.

#16 Adam Geric – 1 goal, 0 assists

#14 Pier-Olivier Cotnoir (I) – 2 goals, 3 assists

#10 Jeff Martens (I) – 3 goals, 4 assists

#7 Jaysen Chalker – 1 goals, 0 assists

Unmentioned Assists: #23 Matt Wetini – 2 assists

#3 Matt Lindsay – 5 assists

#5 John F. Kennedy Jr (I) – 1 assist

]]> http://northstars.com.au/2013/05/goals-galore-and-three-in-a-row-for-north-stars/feed/ 0 http://northstars.com.au/2013/05/north-stars-on-tv/ http://northstars.com.au/2013/05/north-stars-on-tv/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 12:27:52 +0000 Peter Lambert http://northstars.com.au/?p=767

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The AIHL will feature on Fox Sports channels in 2013.

The Proski North Stars will make their regular season debut when they appear on Fox Sports 3HD channel Thursday 2nd May at 3.30pm AEST.

The footage from last Sunday’s game versus the Sydney Bears has been cut down to a one hour show and has had commentary added.

The game will be screening immediately after the NHL Stanley Cup Finals game between Vancouver Canucks and the San José Sharks, providing an excellent opportunity to win over other ice hockey fans to the AIHL.