North Stars remain tops in GNML (6 photos added)

There may have been times when it wasn't exactly pretty but the Soo North Stars battled their way through and found themselves with two more victories to add to their total this season.

The North Stars were in a battle for top spot this weekend as the Sudbury Nickel Capitals rolled into the John Rhodes Community Centre for a pair of games. The Nickel Capitals entered the weekend with an 8-1 record while the North Stars held a perfect 8-0 record to start the season.

The North Stars defeated Sudbury 4-2 on Saturday night and 4-3 in overtime on Sunday afternoon.

The Nickel Capitals opened Saturday night's game with a quick start and were rewarded early on when Jordan Kuruliak beat North Stars goaltender Ryan Dube at 6:52.

In the middle frame, the North Stars found their stride and scored three times – Tyler Luikkonen, Adam Pymaki, and Brett Perlini – to take a 3-1 lead into the third.

The North Stars added to their lead as Derrek Coccimiglio scored at 8:16 of the third to make the lead 4-1. A Sudbury goal by Joey Derochie at 15:04 wrapped up the scoring on the night for either team.

On Sunday, the North Stars were again plagued by a slow start. Sudbury's Mark Baskcomb gave the Nickel Capitals a quick lead scoring just 50 seconds into the opening period.

With the slow start out of their system the North Stars came back with a pair of quick goals. Coccimiglio scored on the power play at 2:48 and Pymaki then gave the North Stars a 2-1 lead at 5:06. Dale Pidutti tied the game a short time later when he broke in on a shorthanded breakaway and beat Dube at 7:29.

Coccimiglio gave the North Stars a 3-2 lead at 11:20 of the third period and it looked as though the lead was going to hold up. That is, until Baskcomb scored his second of the afternoon with Sudbury shorthanded and goaltender Andre Frappier on the bench for an extra attacker.

In the extra frame, the North Stars capitalized to keep themselves undefeated as Dean Howard won a faceoff back to Jerry Petingalo who fired a shot past Frappier to give the North Stars the victory.

"You have to give Sudbury credit," North Stars coach Mike Hall said. "They never quit. They kept coming at us. Going into overtime we said we were going for the win and we were fortunate to win the draw because we weren't wining many. Sudbury's got a great team."

"The difference between a so-so hockey team is a good hockey team responds to situations and we responded today," Hall added. "It's a big win. I just wish all our hockey games were like this."

Hall went on to say that the fact his team had to battle back in both games after a slow start was nice but still concerning.

"We have to take some of the onus as a coaching staff (for getting behind early), Hall said. "If you get scored on in the first minute of a period, your team wasn't ready to play.

"We did it in both games (this weekend). I don't know whether it was nerves or we just weren't ready to play. We talked about it (after Saturday night's game) changing things we do before the game but that's something we'll have to work on."

The two wins helped the North Stars move three points up on the Nickel Capitals, who did pick up a point for the overtime loss, for top spot in the Great North Midget League standings. The North Stars also have a game in hand on Sudbury.

Next action for the North Stars will be Oct. 15 and 16 when they are in North Bay to take on the Trappers.

The North Stars will be back home the following weekend, Oct 22 and 23 when they face the Kirkland Lake Legion 87's.