Having already making their presence felt in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, MacGregor Sinclair and Layne Young are now staking their claim as one of the best offensive pairings in the entire country.
Sinclair had four goals and three assists while Young dished out seven helpers as the North Stars cruised to a 10-2 win over the La Ronge Ice Wolves Tuesday night at the Civic Centre.
“Our line was just working hard by going to loose pucks and we were clicking all night,” Young said. “That’s really all it was to be honest.”
“We’ve worked a lot in practice on capitalizing on our scoring opportunities,” Sinclair added. “We have been outshooting our opponents, but we’ve only been winning by a goal most nights, so it was nice to finally bury our chances.”
For Sinclair, who was named the SJHL Player of the Week and committed to the NCAA’s Canisius Golden Griffins Monday, it was his second consecutive hat-trick on home ice as he scored all three goals in the North Stars’ 3-2 win over the Notre Dame Hounds Friday.
Thanks to his performance, the Irma, Alta. product now has 20 goals in 23 games and is five markers back of league leader Zach Goberis of the Estevan Bruins.
“I think with my linemates [Young and Elijah Loon-Stewardson] anyone can have two hat-tricks,” Sinclair said. “They have been helping me out with some great passes.
“One of the biggest keys for all of us was getting a goal on the first shift of the game. When Chaseton [Braid] scored, that was a huge confidence boost for everyone.”
Young’s seven assist performance moved him ahead of Goberis for the league scoring lead.
The Frenchman Butte native has 49 points in 23 games, which is four more than the Bruins sniper has put up in 28 contests.
“Everyone was moving the puck well,” Young said.
“If one of us missed a shot, we’d win the battles in the corner to get the puck back. We did a really good job of battling hard against their guys to regain possession.”
Loon-Stewardson had two goals and two assists in the victory, while Braid potted home a pair of goals.
Blake Fennig also found the back of the net and Owen Lamb picked up his first point of the season in his 23rd game of the campaign as he slid the puck through the five-hole of Ice Wolves netminder Jordan Frey.
“Owen was all over the ice tonight so it was great to see him finally get rewarded for his hard work,” North Stars head coach and general manager Heck said. “I also liked the play out of our two affiliated players [defenceman Noah Form and forward Tye Scherger] as they didn’t look out of place at all, especially Tye as this was his first SJHL game.”
“I think the depth that we have on this team is starting to show,” Young said. “It’s been there since the season began, but now we’re starting to see some more guys putting the puck home.”
The North Stars double digit output marked the first time they had reached that mark since Oct. 15, 2016, when they picked up a 10-3 win on the road against the Bruins.
They last scored that many goals at home in a 10-3 triumph against the Hounds on Feb. 3, 2016.
After filling in as a backup for the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades last week, Joel Grzybowski returned to the net for the North Stars on Tuesday and made 21 saves.
Mitch Zambon scored twice for the Ice Wolves, who have a 5-18-0-2 record and are currently mired in a six-game losing streak.
Frey turned aside 21 shots in 40 minutes of work before being replaced for the final 20 minutes by Merek Pipes, who only had to make three saves.
Prior to the game, it was announced that the North Stars had dealt defenceman Anthony Cuglietta to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Swan Valley Stampeders for a player development fee.
“Simply put, it was a move to get our roster numbers down before the cutdown deadline Friday,” Heck said. “At this point, we’re not sure how things will go on the movement front before then. It’s one of those things where you have to just wait and see what’s out there.”
The defending SJHL champions currently have 26 players on the roster and need to cut that down by a single player before 11:59 p.m. Friday.
Cuglietta, an 18-year-old from Edmonton, had three assists in 13 games prior to the trade.
Next up for the North Stars, who are currently riding a seven-game win streak and have a 19-3-1-0 record, is a two-game road trip to start the month of December.
They’ll travel to Estevan to take on the Bruins Friday before going up against the Hounds in Wilcox Saturday.
“I’m sure both teams will be wanting to get one back from us after we beat them in our last games against each other,” Young said.
The North Stars will be without the services of defenceman Levi Kleiboer for those games, as he’ll be in Calgary to take part in Canada West’s selection camp for the upcoming World Junior A Challenge tournament.
