The Battlefords North Stars recently completed their season with a five-game semifinal series loss to the Flin Flon Bombers, who were well deserved in victory. It was a relatively successful season for the North Stars, as they won the Finning Division in addition to winning the league crown for accumulating the most points during the regular season. In addition, we will see several of the young lads move on to collegiate or university careers. This is, ultimately, more important than any of the hockey-related honours the team accomplished.
If we examine the team’s success during this past season, we will see the regular season point championship may be a bit misleading. Our club played in a division comprised of the Kindersley Klippers, Notre Dame Hounds and the Humboldt Broncos. The North Stars compiled a 20-1 record against those clubs, almost half of their regular season wins. And due to an unbalanced schedule, we played these teams more, relatively, than top clubs such as the Bombers, Melfort Mustangs, Weyburn Red Wings, Nipawin Hawks, and Estevan Bruins. However, to be fair, the North Stars wound up with a superior record and did experience some success against the above-noted clubs. But, there were areas of weakness that will need to be addressed prior to the drop of the puck in September.
The team received a solid effort by all of the players during the semifinal series with Flin Flon. However, based on the play at the Civic Centre, where the team lost all three home games, it was, arguably, easy to see the Bombers come out with the victory in the series. You just can’t lose your home games during the playoffs, let alone three in one series.
The northern club played hard every shift and bottled up the North Stars in their own end consistently. They were willing to play in the difficult areas that resulted in a number of goals where the North Stars’ goaltender was at the mercy of determined Bomber forwards. It appeared the North Stars’ defencemen were on their heels for much of the time, and they eventually looked tired and frustrated.
Due to the Bombers breaking up many of the passes in the neutral zone, the North Stars were just not able to capitalize on their effective puck possession game. Thus, many of the North Star rushes were comprised of individual players either dumping the puck in or carrying it in to the Bomber zone without support. In addition, the Bombers neutralized the play of North Stars forwards who, for the entire season, were able to skate around the opposition’s defencemen on the outside and swoop back in towards the goaltender, shuffling the puck into the net.
The Bomber defencemen played our forwards extremely well and, for one reason or another, the North Stars were just not able to adapt.
On paper, the North Stars have a good nucleus of players returning for next season. However, during the off-season, various players will decide to not return for various reasons. The club will have lost much of their offensive firepower, a staple of this year’s North Stars. Igor Leonenko, Reed Delainey, Dustin Gorgi and Jake McMillen have played their last year of junior hockey. It is hoped that American Coby Downs will return for his second year, but he may wish to display his talents elsewhere. If that does, indeed, occur the North Stars will be left with Layne Young as their only returnee from a nucleus of players that formed an offensive juggernaut this past season. Another huge loss will be Baxter Kanter who was, arguably, the North Stars best player in the playoffs, as he was willing to give his maximum effort in each and every game.
The defencemen eligible to return to the North Stars are Connor Sych, Cody Spagrud, Ryan Rosenberg, Kendall Fransoo, Conor Jensen and Levi Kleiboer. Troy Gerein also had some playing time in this position during the course of the regular season. Hopefully, the majority of this unit returns next season. With the loss of Jordan Wiest, the club does lose some size. Hopefully, during the off-season, the North Stars will be able to acquire a big puck handling defencemen who will replace the strong play of Wiest who has completed his junior career. It is always an advantage to have big, mobile defencemen, but it is also a rare commodity.
The North Stars goaltending should be strong with the continued development of Taryn Kotchorek. This young lad was simply solid throughout the season, until the club appeared to favour playing the older goaltenders, Ryan Rewerts and Tyler Fuhr, for the last third of the season and the playoffs. Fuhr played exceptionally well during the post season. Kotchorek was dependable and never took a game off. He was sharp and gave his team a chance to win every night, rarely letting in a soft goal that can demoralize any team. The North Stars will likely have to recruit another younger goaltender during the off-season, one of whom will be targeted to be a successor to Kotchorek, who has two years of eligibility remaining.
During the course of the last off-season, the North Stars were able to effectively recruit a number of players who were able to become effective and contributing members of the club. In general, the players appeared to be bigger and were able to dominate the opposition on many nights. This off-season will be extremely important in the area of recruiting. Hopefully, the trend will continue to see a bigger and faster club that will be able to provide entertaining hockey to the public who come out to support the club.
Size does matter in junior hockey, especially come playoff time. A replacement that emulates the type of play of Ben Greenaway and Baxter Kanter will be essential for the success of the club.
The play of the Battlefords North Stars this past season was stellar. It was exciting hockey with superior offensive and solid defensive play. Overall, the fan attendance total for the year was up. It should have been with such an exciting club. If the North Stars and their volunteers are involved in the community on a year-round basis and are effective in promoting the club, that fan base will increase. It is very important to not take the fans for granted. They are the bread and butter of the club, as are the volunteers, parents and billets, in addition to the valuable sponsors that support the club financially. Hopefully, the board is aware of that and will be cognizant of making each and every game day a special experience for young and old alike.
Special thanks should go to Trent Cey who does a tremendous job with the club. Let’s get people wearing authentic North Stars jerseys on home dates to visually promote the North Stars. It was quite special to see the support of hundreds of Flin Flon fans as they made the long trek to the Battlefords to watch their Bombers during the playoffs. Many were decked out in their splendid Bomber jerseys and, I am sure, that helped pump up the play of their team.
The writer is sure the off-season will be busy for the North Stars administration. There will be high expectations for next season after the success of the 2015-16 squad. And there should be. Good luck and all the best to all the lads who have graduated. And, welcome to the new recruits, whom we hope will display class in the community, respect to their billets and dynamism on the ice. Another year of fire wagon hockey would be a pleasure.
