The Newcastle Northstars’ 3-0 victory over the Central Coast Rhinos on Sunday kept them at the top of the Rurak Conference table, maintaining a five-point gap over the second-placed Canberra Brave.
Goals from Francis Drolet, Daniel Berno and Patrick Nadin had the home crowd on their feet, chanting and celebrating.
Feeling the playoffs edging closer, Captain Liam Manwarring shared what he calls “the pressure time. There’s so much pressure on us right now, and I keep reminding the boys and staff that we’re getting to the pointy end now.”
In spite of this, Manwarring encourages his team to “embrace and enjoy it” as the end of the season can go by so quickly.
Northstars have full control over the end of their season and place in finals, an achievement Head Coach Kevin Noble has sought out all season, “We have nobody to scoreboard watch. We just have to go out and take care of our business.”
“One thing for us this year is revenge. We weren’t in Melbourne last year. We’re trying not to think ahead too much right now and focus on our next practice and next game. We’re in a good spot, and our goal is to finish first,” shared Manwarring.
“We went through a little bit of a slump, but ever team goes through that. We’ve got all our moving parts together and we’re getting momentum now. I’d rather be in the position we are with all the momentum, and I am so proud of all the boys,” ended Manwarring.
Northstars will play the Central Coast Rhinos and Melbourne Mustangs before heading to Melbourne for finals. With both teams out of finals contention, Noble shares how “those are hard games. You have everything to lose, and they have nothing.”
“It’s tough, so credit to our guys for finding a way,” began Noble, “we’re going to have to find a way to win games against very capable teams and goalies. We look forward to the challenge and hard is better.”
Noble shared with Hockey Hype Australia how he’s been focusing on different aspects of the Northstars game at each practice and building into their detail rather than a “cram” right before finals.
“I think powerplay and PK are going to be focused on finding the right personnel and getting the structure and detail down in what we’re trying to do in a different formation in the next couple of weeks,” shared Noble.
On Sunday, August 4th, the Northstars head to Erina to take on the Central Coast Rhinos before returning to Newcastle for the sold-out last home game of the season on August 10th vs Melbourne Mustangs.
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