Dylan Twindale and his U18 NorthWest Stars teammates will return to action Thursday night in Biggar, looking to stay hot. (Submitted photo/Andrea Dubray)

By Martin Martinson

NorthWest Stars rolling

U18 NorthWest Stars shoot for third straight in Biggar

Nov 24, 2022 | 3:19 PM

Coming off back-to-back wins over the Humboldt Broncos U18 AA team last weekend, the NorthWest Stars U18s will return to action Thursday night in Biggar against the West Central Wheat Kings.

In search of their third straight victory before returning home to North Battleford Saturday, head coach Lee Ulmer said a key to the team’s success of late has been their growth in consistency, as a young group overall heading into the season.

“The team’s really pulled together to work hard as a team and do so for a full 60 minutes,” Ulmer said. “We do have a pretty young squad compared to other years with just two 17-year-olds this year, but I think we have shown we have the skill to compete, and now just bringing that full 60, I think we keep getting better and we’re seeing some better results because of that.”

The Stars sit sixth overall in the Sask U18 AA League standings with a 6-7 record this season, just two points back of the Saskatoon Riverkings, though the latter does hold a pair of games in hand.

The Stars will face a West Central team (4-7-1) just three points back of them in the standings and desperate to get back on the winning track Thursday, after dropping three of their last four overall, including most recently a 2-0 loss to Martensville.

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Ulmer said the team must be ready to match their opposition’s pace early.

“We just need to come out and play our game,” the coach said. “We have a good-skating team and we just need to stay disciplined as that is something we’ve been getting better at, and we know they’re going to come out and be physical, so we just need to be ready for that and hopefully our speed and skill can be the difference in the game.”

Forwards Devante Pratt and Hayden Mezaros are coming off three-straight multi-point games apiece to lead the club over their current stretch, while Louis Dubray-Regnier has also registered back-to-back multi-point efforts for the team.

Pratt leads the Stars with 19 points in 13 games and has been especially hot of late with five goals and 10 points over his last five. Mezaros, who sits just back, with eight goals and 18 points this year has seven points in his last three games, while Dubray-Regnier is coming off a two-goal performance with five of his 10 points coming over his last two outings.

Between the pipes, goalie Dylan Twindale will get the start Thursday after stopping 17/18 for the victory last Saturday against Humboldt to earn a .944 save percentage in the win.

Thursday’s game at Biggar Arena will begin with puck drop at 7:30 p.m.

Following Thursday’s game, the Stars will return to play at North Battleford’s Access Communications Centre Saturday against Northeast for their first of two games this weekend, with puck drop at 4:45 p.m.

Sunday the Stars will then play their final game of the month at Saskatoon’s Gordie Howe Kinsmen Arena against the Saskatoon Icehawks.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1