The Northstars won a convincing home game on Saturday, defeating the visiting Canberra Brave 7-3.

The Northstars came out strong with possession, a perfect powerplay (three for three) and penalty kill percentage (four for four), while maintaining control of the game.

Opening the scoring, newly appointed alternate captain Francis Drolet scored two quick goals, getting the crowd on their feet and cheering and lifting the Northstars.

“First game, it’s Canberra. It’s great, great feeling, great start for me to like just put on a show. I mean, you’re aiming to score but sometimes you just shoot it as hard as you can and you hope for the best. And two goals went in and I was happy it was on the powerplay because it’s a big momentum shift when you score on the powerplay,” Drolet told Hockey Hype Australia.

Canberra Brave fans had a chance to make some noise with a Casey Kubara goal in the middle of the period, but the Northstars defensive line in Aiden Wagner and Ethan Hawes would quiet them down quickly, securing a 4-1 lead at the first break.

Canberra came out strong in the second, scoring the first two goals of the period, lifting their spirits, and the travelling fans made their presence known. Shutting down the Northstars’ plays took the home team right to the last minute of the period before Beau Taylor would secure the fifth goal for Newcastle.

Canberra Brave Captain Kai Miettinen shared, “I think the second period for us was good, but our other periods could have been better. The first period was a bit rough, but that is reflective of us getting back into the games. There’s a lot of good things to take away from this game but it’s just one of those frustrating games early in the year.”

Canberra Brave Head Coach Jeff Helbren also noted, “The second period was definitely a very good brand of Brave hockey. It was a good showing, the boys worked really hard and were just getting things going. First game jitters are out of the way now and we have plenty of positive takeaways.”

“We will work on finding more consistency in our game, and especially with a general level of intensity. There were points in the game that were really flat and others that were buzzing and we’d go hard. So we’ll work to keep that intensity up throughout the whole game,” Miettinen said.

Big expectations for the third period could be felt in the thick atmosphere of the sell-out crowd at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium. The crowd was primed and ready, and the game ended in favour of the Northstars after Drolet scored his hat-trick goal in the final period.

Northstars Head Coach Kevin Noble reflected, “We did a lot of things right tonight, and had a lot of good individual performances. When you get timely goals scored from big guys it helps ease the pressure on the team.

“Individually we did a lot of good things in the game, but we also had some mistakes that we will go back and review the video on. These are the mistakes we can’t afford to make but we did a lot of good things overall.”

Helbren noted, “I don’t think there’s too much to work on; the boys are all working really hard on and off the ice, so we just need to keep getting better at what we do best, so I’m happy with them.”

“We had a lot of first-time players on the Brave roster today,” Helbren continued. “Bodhi, with his first run on the ice, I was really excited for him. It’s good to see the young fellas coming through. We had Jacob and Tommy also both get goals tonight with their first games with the team, so this highlights the positives we can take away from tonight.”

The Newcastle Northstars will be on the road on April 13th, heading down to Erina to face the Central Coast Rhinos and play at home on April 14^th, welcoming the Sydney Ice Dogs to Hunter Ice Skating Stadium.