North Stars ready to shine

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The Newcastle North Stars aren’t satisfied with anything less than success in the search for their fifth Goodall Cup. As the most successful club in AIHL history, the team has used the organisation’s historic experience to guide a new generation of North Stars to be bigger and better as they finished the regular season capturing the H Newman Reid Trophy as league leaders.
 
As impressive as the North Stars line up is, coach Andrew Petrie is not resting on his laurels with the team preparing to face the Canberra Brave this Saturday in Melbourne. With a 2-0-0-2 record this season against their opposition, Newcastle feel well prepared for the challenge.
 
“The good thing coming up to finals this weekend is that’s we’ve played them four times,” Petrie said. “We know what’s on the table and we know what we need to do to combat that.”
 
“Canberra have a very dominant first line and on that line they’ve got exceptional speed and good puck control; the guys are extremely well aware of each other on the ice. From our team, you’ve got fifteen guys that can compete with any line on any given night. We’ll be playing to our strengths and hoping to knock them off theirs.”
 
With both teams bursting with the league’s top five offensive point scorers, the North Stars have made changes in order to ensure success on the ice.
 
“There will be some changes as we’re going to play Canberra the way we need to play them,” Petrie said. “Make things as difficult as possible for their scoring guys and open up some ice and space for our scoring guys.”
 
“We’ll be running with the same five-defencemen system we’ve been playing our last seven games. It’s running really well for us and the guys are seeing enough ice to work in tandem together but still getting enough rest that they’re willing and able to go in the last five minutes of a tight game. That’s the one thing we’ve cemented and it’s been working really well for us.”
 
That system has played a role in the North Stars allowing the fewest goals against this season but its goaltender Dayne Davis who has shone as the season progressed.
 
“We have an import-quality goaltender who started the season with us after not really playing any hockey at all these last few years so we knew it was going to be a growth process for him,” Petrie said. “We knew that is was going to take time to get into his rhythm and find those high level skills that you lose when you’ve been away for a while.”
 
In 23 games, Davis has a league leading 18 wins with the third highest GAA at 2.79 and a 0.912 SV% whilst carrying one of the heaviest minutes played. The second half of the season has seen the net minder elevate his game with a 0.933 SV% in his last 12 appearances.
 
“He’s exceeded our wildest expectations and I don’t think you’d get much of an argument that in the second half of the season he’s been the go-to goalie in the league for sure,” Petrie said. “We just want him to do what he’s been doing and we’re completely confident that he’ll be able to deliver on that.”
 
Newcastle has brought in the right combination of high-level hockey skill, attitude and home-grown talent to achieve their goal and will be an exciting team to watch this weekend.
 
The Newcastle North Stars take on the Canberra Brave in the first semi-final on Saturday afternoon at 3:00pm at the Medibank Icehouse.