The Northstars continued their winning streak with two big wins this past weekend. On Saturday, they defeated the Rhinos in Erina 14-1 and then backed it up in front of a capacity crowd against the Sydney Ice Dogs at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium to win 7-3.

On Sunday afternoon, the scoring was opened by Daniel Berno in a triumphant return in his first home game of the season, with his goal closely followed by Northstars Maliq West’s first career AIHL goal to take a 2-0 lead over the Ice Dogs.

Northstars Head Coach Kevin Noble spoke about West, saying, “He’s been a bright spot in the youth program here and something that the kids developing can look at and see a kid that’s used his time, worked and worked, and earned his right to be here. He’s earned everything and that is what is special about him”.

Holding this 2-0 lead going into the first period, the excited Northstars crowd kept the atmosphere thick with anticipation for more.

Northstars Head Coach Kevin Noble reflected on the team’s energy, “We certainly didn’t let up. I felt like our game tonight and last night that we had large stretches of play where we did a lot of good things offensively. We held onto pucks, kept it alive in the offensive zone, cycled and protected the puck going from low to high.”

A powerplay goal from Ice Dogs forward Connor Lee closed the gap, but Northstars captain Patrick Nadin extended the lead, going into the second break with a 3-1 lead.

Northstars took control of the third period with three early goals from Taylor, Darge and Manwarring to extend the Northstars lead to 6-1.

Dmitri Kuleshov fought back for the Ice Dogs with two more goals, and team mate Grant Toulmin shared “The two Kuleshovs are fantastic. Dmitri is no longer really that young of a guy but he’s still one of our kids. He’s played two or three seasons for us now and every year they get so much better. Dmitri is our best offensive guy right now, he’s unbelievable with the puck and Ivan is following in his footsteps.”

It would be the Northstars’ night with Drolet putting the final feather in the cap, resulting in the final score of 7-3 to the home team.

Sydney Ice Dogs Head Coach Jason Kvisle reflected on the game, “We had four guys that haven’t played much AIHL, lost three guys during the game and missing d-men to overseas senior men’s team commitments, and to be honest I think our boys played their skins off. Our goalie faced 70 shots but the scoreline didn’t reflect that, and our guys really played for each other.” (live scoring was adjusted post-game and shot count reflected in box score reduced)

Toulmin reinforced, “I think the strongest positive we have was our goaltender faced so many shots, and when you have a goaltender that can hang in there like that is important when it [the scoreline] could have been worse. He played phenomenal.”

“Our guys put their bodies on the line” Kvisle continued, “They did so many good things. Yeah fatigue kicked in and we let some bad goals in during the third period but we were neck and neck with a team that has only lost one player overseas, so we take a lot of positives from that game.”

“We had a lot of guys really step up”, shared Toulmin, “A lot of the younger guys played a lot more minutes than they’re used to, right down to the end they had a good push in the third and played their hearts out.”

Fast becoming a fan favourite across the league, Northstars’ Aiden Wagner secured 1 goal and 11 assists over the weekend. Wagner spoke with Hockey Hype Australia, sharing, “The atmosphere here in Newcastle is electric. All the fans are great and everybody is really supportive and have welcomed me with open arms.”

“As a team we do a really good job cycling the puck and holding onto it. We’ve got a lot of really skilled young guys on the team and some veteran guys who have a lot of poise with the puck. When we settle down and start making plays, we’ve got some of the best players in the league,” Wagner shared.

“Every guy did a lot of good things for us tonight and are deserving of our six points this weekend, we have a good Adelaide team coming here next weekend, and we’ll have to be at our best again,” finished Noble.

The Northstars will next play Adelaide Adrenaline on Sunday 21^st April, at 4pm. For tickets visit Northstars.thundertix.com