Heading into the start of their Canalta Cup title defence, there were many questions surrounding the Battlefords North Stars, ranging from who would fill the holes left by graduating players and how would new head coach and general manager Brandon Heck fare in his first year in charge of a Junior A club.
Thus far, it appears business as usual for the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League club.
Ahead of their return to action Friday night at home against the Kindersley Klippers, the North Stars are once again in first place in the recently rebranded Global Ag Risk Solutions Division with a 24-5-2 record.
They are also second in the SJHL standings and trail the Nipawin Hawks by six points, though the North Stars do have four games in hand.
“Things have been pretty good thus far,” Heck said. “The young players are coming along nicely and contributing, while our team as a whole has gotten better and we’ve found ways to win.”
“We’re going to have to improve defensively and we’ll need to do a better job of managing the puck if we want to take a run at this thing, but we’re pretty happy about where we are at.”
One of the biggest takeaways that Heck has had in his new role is just how competitive the SJHL is at the moment, with as many as seven teams (the Hawks, North Stars, Melfort Mustangs, Notre Dame Hounds, Humboldt Broncos, Estevan Bruins and Weyburn Red Wings) having a possible chance of being in the mix for the league.
“It definitely helps our attendance with the amount of close games we’ve had,” Heck joked. “Teams are always up to play the defending champs and we’re getting their best efforts on a nightly basis.
“I’ve been blown away with how anyone can beat anyone on a given night and with how hard all the players work. I was talking to a scout from the NCAA recently and he said this is probably the hardest league to score in because of the commitment to defence and how hard you have to compete in every game.”
The North Stars offence has been led by third-year forward Layne Young, who has the most points in the entire SJHL with 62 points in 31 games, and second-year centre MacGregor Sinclair, who has put up 47 points in 31 games to sit fourth in league scoring and comitted to the NCAA’s Canisius Golden Griffins last month.
In addition to the veteran players, a number of new faces have made their presence felt up front.
“I think of a guy like Elijah Loon-Stewardson, who had everything start to click for him against Humboldt earlier this year and he’s been able to carry the puck with confidence,” said North Stars assistant coach Boyd Wakelin, who is also in his first season on the bench.
“Dakota Huebner and Matthias Urbanski have been contributing on offence more, and you have a guy like Jacob Tibbatts who’s starting to throw his body around like a veteran in this league. We have different guys contributing more and they are really starting to settle in.”
While the North Stars defence has allowed the second least goals in the league with 78, and is headlined by future Maine Black Bears blueliner and World Junior A Challenge gold medalist Levi Kleiboer, Heck believes that there is still some room for improvement.
“We’re still getting used to the system and working on breaking the puck out of our own end,” Heck said. “There is too many times where we are turning the puck over instead of managing things a little better in our own end.
“I like the buy-in from our group though. If you look at our game against Nipawin [which the North Stars lost 3-2 in overtime at the Civic Centre on Dec. 12], we gave up 37 shots but a lot of them were from the outside.”
The North Stars also have the same two netminders from last year’s championship squad, as third-year goaltender Taryn Kotchorek has once again been joined by Joel Grzybowski, who was reassigned to the team from the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades in November.
Grzybowski’s return resulted in the North Stars trading rookie netminder Kolby Matthews to the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Calgary Canucks earlier this month for forward Dylan Williamson, a player development fee and future considerations.
“The big thing there was getting down to two goalies, as all three of them want to play, and we wanted to get something for our assets,” Heck said.
“Our goaltending is the least of my concerns. Both Taryn and Joel are able to answer the call in any game and any situation.”
When it comes to upcoming transactions, the 12 SJHL teams are in a roster freeze until New Year’s Day, after which they can make moves until Jan. 10 when the Canadian Junior Hockey League trade deadline takes place for all 10 Junior A leagues.
“We’d like to add a couple of players and we have the room to do it,” Heck said.
“It’s hard to get a feel at this point of what the other teams in the league are thinking. Everyone’s kind of protecting their cards right now so you could see a situation where people are happy with that they got, or the exact opposite could happen where one big move will lead to a number of trades.”
Following Friday’s matchup in North Battleford with the Klippers, the North Stars will take on their archrivals once again Saturday in Kindersley.
They’ll return to the Civic Centre on Friday, Jan. 5 to face the Hounds at 7:30 p.m.
