A hat-trick from alternate captain Robert Malloy has helped the Newcastle North Stars to an 8-3 win over the Sydney Bears.

The North Stars led from start to finish, and despite the Bears closing the gap midway through the third period, the North Stars were at their dominant best.

The North Stars outshot the Bears 54-20, controlling the game throughout, a fact that coach Andrew Petrie said had been a few weeks coming.

“That’s the performance I’ve been looking for, for the past few weeks,” Petrie said. “Even through the early games we won, we did it with momentum and energy but not style and substance.”

“We played with a lot of tempo and a lot of structure from start to finish. Our kids tonight played phenomenally well. The forechecking system we have them do, they did it to perfection. They even played against the opposition first line a few times and kept them in their own end; it was really great.”

With 22 North Stars shots to four for the Bears in the first period, the Bears were at their defensive best, with the first goal scored with less than two minutes remaining in the first.

Defenceman Rob Starke found Jayson Chalker in the corner who sent a pinpoint pass to Matt Wetini in the crease.

Beau Taylor doubled the advantage with only 24 seconds remaining in the period, sending the North Stars to the first break with a 2-0 lead.

Momentum was with the North Stars even after the break, with Malloy scoring his first goal shorthanded.

When Geordie Wudrick scored with just under a minute-and-a-half remaining in the period, the 4-0 score was suggesting a long night at the office for the Bears.

With only two seconds left in the second, Lee Turner and Cameron Todd entered the zone two-on-one, with Turner scoring his first goal of the season, sending the teams to the sheds at 4-1.

36 seconds after returning from the break, North Stars took advantage of the new hybrid icing rule, sending the puck to the Bear’s zone.

With a mistake from the Bears and a pass from Safar finding the stick of Malloy, the North Stars led 5-1.

The Bears pulled two back midway through the period through new import Ales Padelek and Richard Tesarik to make it 5-3 but goals from Luke Moffatt, Taylor and Malloy saw the North Stars run away 8-3.

Bears coach Vlad Rubes was disappointed with the result but knew it would be difficult against the North Stars.

“We knew we were facing a good team,” Rubes said. “When you play a team like that you need to be disciplined out of the box but they kept us in the box a lot and we lost momentum. (In training) we will go back to our basic stuff and feel good and comfortable again ready for next week.”

For the North Stars, Petrie pointed out import Luke Moffatt for special praise.

“I don’t like to single out players, but with Luke I will,” began Petrie. “He took it upon himself to be the leader in the energy department tonight. I thought he was phenomenal. When you have your best players leading like that, it’s very easy for the young guys to follow.”

Next week, the Bears head west for a double header, taking on the high-flying Perth Thunder in Perth, while the North Stars host the Brave on Sunday.