North Stars fall to 1-2 after loss to Mississauga

The Soo North Stars find themselves in a tough position heading into the final two days of the round robin at the 2012 Central Region Midget AAA Championship.

The North Stars dropped a 6-4 decision to the Mississauga Rebels on Wednesday night, leaving them in a position that sees them needing a pair of wins in their final two games to have a chance to move on to the semi-finals.

“Our kids really compete well,” said North Stars coach Mike Hall. “We were down 4-2 and battled back. We’re right there, obviously with it being 4-4 late in the game. It’s a game of breaks and we didn’t catch any.”

The North Stars trailed 4-2 in the second period when Michael Amadio scored with 13 seconds left in the period to cut the lead to one. Ryan Vendramin proceeded to score at 3:29 of the third period to knot the game up at four apiece.

The game looked to be headed to a tie before Michael Florindo fanned on a shot from the slot but the shot fooled North Stars goaltender Jacob Kment and gave the Rebels the lead. An empty net goal with under 40 seconds remaining sealed the win.

Zach Fung led the way offensively for the Rebels with a goal and two assists in the win. Patrick Wiejak added a pair of goals while Niko Kovachis, Mike Soucier and Florindo also scored.

“It was a great game,” said Rebels coach Jamie Caruso. “I give the North Stars a lot of credit. They’re a lot younger team than we are but they stuck with it. They were giving us all we could handle. We capitalized on our chances and that was the difference.”

Amadio, Anthony Stefano, Michael Caruso and Ryan Vendramin scored for the North Stars in the loss.

Through three days, four teams sit with identical 2-1 records – Whitby, Mississauga, London and Sudbury – while the North Stars hold a 1-2 record. The Ottawa Jr. 67’s are the lone winless team in the six-team field.

“We’ve got ourselves in a position now where we need to win the next two games,” said Hall. “By no means are we out of this yet and that’s what we explained to the kids.”

The North Stars meet the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves on Thursday night before wrapping up their round robin schedule on Friday evening against the Whitby Wildcats. Puck drop for both games is 6:30 p.m.

Mississauga faces Ottawa on Thursday afternoon and wrap up the round robin on Friday against the London Jr. Knights on Friday.

The remaining schedule for the round robin portion of the tournament includes:

Thursday

• • 12:00 p.m.: Whitby vs. London
• • 3:15 p.m.: Mississauga vs. Ottawa
• • 6:30 p.m.: Sault Ste. Marie vs. Sudbury

Friday

• • 12:00 p.m.: Sudbury vs. Ottawa
• • 3:15 p.m.: Mississauga vs. London
• • 6:30 p.m.: Whitby vs. Sault Ste. Marie

The semi-finals are set for Saturday at noon and 3 p.m. while the championship game is Sunday at noon.