HOCKEY NOTEBOOK: North Stars eliminated

The Soo North Stars were eliminated from playoff contention Thursday night after being shut out at the Air Canada Cup National AAA Midget Championships.

College Antoine-Girouard suffocated the North Stars offense and goaltender Loic Lacasse made 21 saves as the Quebec representatives defeated the Soo 2-0 at Memorial Gardens.

The loss squashed the North Stars hope of a playoff spot as at least two wins will be necessary to capture one of the four playoff positions available after the round robin. The North Stars sit at 0-4 with one game remaining.

Goaltender Michael Maulucci had a solid game for the locals, stopping 36 of 38 shots fired his way.

Eric Castonguay, on the power play, and Benoit Doucet scored for Antoine-Girouard.

Elsewhere, the Pacific's Calgary Northstars defeated the West's Yorkton Harvest 1-0 and the Atlantic's St. John's Maple Leafs defeated Central representative Waterloo Wolves 4-3.

Quebec remains on top of the standings at 4-0 followed by the Pacific at 3-1. Team West and Atlantic are tied at 2-2 while the Central is 1-3 and the North Stars 0-4.

The final robin games will be played today with playoff match-ups being declared. Waterloo plays Antoine-Girouard at 9:30 a.m., the Soo North Stars battle Yorkton at 1 p.m. and St. John's meets Calgary at 4:30 p.m. The tournament awards banquet will be held at 8 p.m.

*** OHL ALL-STARS: Garden River's Brandon Nolan has been selected to the Ontario Hockey League's second all-star team as voted by the league's general managers. The third-year left winger scored 36 goals and added 52 assists for 88 points during the regular season and had a strong playoff with 10 goals and seven assists in 13 games.

The Soo Greyhounds' Trevor Daley was named to the third all-star team on defense.

*** LUDZIK RESIGNS: Mississauga Ice Dogs coach Steve Ludzik will not return behind the bench next season after failing to come to terms on a new contract for next season. Ludzik guided the club into the OHL playoffs this year for the first time in club history, where the Ottawa 67's eliminated them in five games.