North Stars in control of own destiny after tie

The Soo North Stars put themselves in a position to control their own destiny after gaining a tie in their second game of the day on Friday at the 23rd Annual Steel City International Hockey Tournament.

While controlling the play for nearly the entire game, the North Stars couldn't finish in the offensive end of the ice and skated away with a 1-1 tie against California's San Jose Jr. Sharks in AAA Major Midget competition at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

Being unable score is a problem that has been virtually nonexistent for the North Stars all season. The club possess a strong cast of offensive players and have shown the ability to score at will many times this season.

Now with a 2-0-1 record through three round robin games, the North Stars are in a position to clinch first place in the A division and gain a berth into Sunday morning's semi-final games. Only the four division winners advance to the playoffs.

"We got a point out of this one and we remain the only team in our division without a loss," said North Stars head coach Mike Hall. "We control our own destiny which is nice so we just have to go out and keeping working hard tomorrow."

The North Stars meet a speedy Green Bay Jr. Gamblers in their final game of the round robin on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at the Rhodes. Win and the North Stars are in but a tie or loss may also be enough to finish first depending on the results of other games.

Against San Jose, Michael D'Agostini opened the scoring for the North Stars late in the first period. Jeffrey Mattern tipped a point shot past goaltender Travis O'Brien late in the second period to score for the Sharks.

"We played well tonight and I thought we controlled about 80 per cent of play. We just couldn't finish around the net and it's first time in while since we couldn't finish," said Hall.

"We played much better games this morning and tonight than we did in the first one so I was pleased. I would be concerned if we didn't create any opportunities but we had plenty of chances to win that game.

"We didn't play well against the Michigan Jaguars and were able to get a win. We just told them this morning that we need to get back to working hard and we told them that it doesn't take any talent to work hard and they responded well.

The North Stars had plenty of opportunities to win the game in the third period but could not capitalize on a double minor penalty to San Jose's Willy Greene for head butting. The Soo had several glorious scoring chances late but couldn't beat a stellar David Sittig-Watson in the San Jose net.