U21 North Stars sweep Bullets and head to OMHA finals

North Stars’ Jackson Ford keeps his eye on a collision in U21 playoff action.

The Lake Erie North Stars are heading to the U21 Ontario Minor Hockey Association championship tournament.

The North Stars punched their ticket to Kingston as they clinched the Shamrock League title against the Southwest Bullets this past Sunday at the Libro Centre in Amherstburg.

With a 6-2 win over the Bullets, the North Stars capped off the Shamrock League playoffs with their fifth straight win and a 9-1-1 post-season record.

A year ago, under the Amherstburg Minor Hockey Association banner, the U21 team made it to the OMHA event but came home disappointed with an 0-3 record. The Nort Stars are confident in their ability to win it all.

“It’s good to be playing at the end of March. We’ve seen a few of them (other teams). We think we have a good chance,” said defenceman Ryan Dufour.

Combined with fellow blueliners Maxton Evans  and DeClan McGrath, the trio have nearly 200 games of Jr. C experience.

This past weekend, the North Stars opened with a 2-0 shutout win over the Bullets in Glencoe followed by victories of 5-2 on Saturday and a quick turnaround of 6-2 on Sunday in a game that started at noon.

“It was home ice advantage and we are much happier playing here,” said North Stars’ coach Dennis Emerson.

Saturday’s well-attended game saw the visiting Bullets take a very quick 1-0 lead in a penalty-filled contest.

“It was way too many penalties. We’ve been doing real good the last few games,” noted Emerson.

The deficit was quickly erased when speedy defenceman Ryken Atherton had a long rush down the right side to tie it up. Lake Erie scored two more quick ones to take command which they never relinquished.

“We had a bad penalty to start but we bounced back and we didn’t worry about it,” said Dufour.

Broyden Hebert got his first of two on a nice cross-ice pass from Atherton when the sides were playing 4-on-4. Captain Cam Roussell did some very hard work in the corner to get the puck to Tyler Franklin to make it 3-1.

The Bullets got their second goal early in the middle frame on a powerplay but Dufour regained the two-goal difference.

“We have a pretty offensive defence. We’ve been scoring all year and we want to keep that going,” said Dufour.

After knocking off the Bullets in three straight, the North Stars will have a bit of a rest before they head to Kingston at the end of the month.

U21 North Stars sweep Bullets and head to OMHA finals

By Fred Groves