The North Stars take on the Nipawin Hawks this Saturday at the ACC with puck drop at 7:30 p.m. (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

High Hopes for 2025

After good start, North Stars need to continue success in second half of season

Jan 2, 2025 | 5:07 PM

After the first half of the season, the Battlefords North Stars are looking very promising, after what some said was supposed to be a “rebuild” year, the team is now first in their division, fifth overall in the league, boasting a 15-10-3-2 record and only five points behind second place.

Since the end of last season when the team lost lead point scorer, Kian Bell as well as other top players like Ben Portner, Bradley Blake, Alex Izyk and Brayden Sinclair, not very many people expected the team to be in the current position they are in now. However, this underestimation has been the driving force for the team’s current play as they have used it as motivation to continue being one of the top teams in the league.

The team has rallied behind veteran goalie, Justen Maric, who’s stepped up in essentially every game he’s played this season, giving the North Stars a chance to win on any given night and showing why he is one of the top goalies in the league.

When looking at the top scorers for the North Stars, the depth chart goes deep, currently with 11 players in double digit points and multiple guys having 10 or more goals, being Braden Nienaber, Elijah Anderson, Rylan Williams, and Anthony Campbell. But there has been one player on the team who has made a strong and impressive entrance into the SJHL and that’s Nikita Ivashchenko. The 2005 born rookie from Kharkov, Ukraine has been a huge difference maker this season and has been taking the reins for the North Stars leading them in goals with 12, assists with 19 and points with 31.

Then on the blueline, the North Stars are stacked with young and skillful talent in Linken Fischer, Sebastian Miles and Owen Dyck as well as strong veteran d-men like Jordan Grill and Gavin Granger.

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Now coming into the second half of the season the North Stars will need to continue getting better as it’s a tight race in the standings with only 11 points separating second and ninth, meaning that one or two losses could be the difference of a playoff spot or not.

“I am happy to be leading our division at the Christmas break but with such parity in the league we need to be more consistent in the New Year and play playoff hockey. It’s the stretch run and we need to tighten up all areas of our game. We can’t take a night off. We can’t take a shift off. We have a fast team and need to use it more.” said North Stars Head Coach, Martin Smith.

The North Stars kick off 2025 by playing six games in just nine days with the first one being this Saturday, January 4th, 7:30 p.m. against the Nipawin Hawks at the Access Communications Centre. Followed by a rematch against the Hawks again on Sunday, January 5th, at 3:00 p.m. in Nipawin. This will be the third and fourth time the North Stars and Hawks will play each other this season with the first two games going to the North Stars.

Tune into both games with the Napa Auto Parts North Stars Hockey Broadcast on CJNB/CJNS, starting with the Ultra Print pregame show, 30 minutes prior to puck drop on both nights.

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austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes