North Stars take 2-0 lead

The Soo North Stars are now one game away from advancing into the Great North Midget League championship series.

Backed by an incredible five goal performance from Nick Minardi, the North Stars rolled past the Timmins Majors 10-0 on Wednesday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five GNML series.

The series will now shift to Timmins for game three on Sunday. A fourth game, if necessary, is scheduled for Monday while a fifth game would move back to the Sault on Wednesday.

After a scoreless first period, the North Stars broke the game open with five second period goals to put the game out of reach.

In the third, the game turned ugly with players resorting to goon tactics and cheap shots. Timmins alone saw three players lost to suspension for their third period antics.

Travis O'Brien made his second start of the series in goal and recorded the shutout for the North Stars.

Jake McClelland and Trevor McNutt added a pair of goals for the winners while Brad DiCandia scored another. Jake Reid recorded three assists while Derrek Coccimiglio, Ben Davey, Jason Bird and Michael Quesnele added two each.

Should the North Stars go on to eliminate the Majors, the locals will host the first two games of the GNML championship series on Friday, Mar. 11 and Saturday, Mar. 12.