A hat-trick to Newcastle’s Geordie Wudrick helped the Newcastle North Stars defeated a luckless CBR Brave team 5-1 on Sunday night at the Phillip Ice Skating centre in Canberra.

The six-point weekend saw the North Stars move to the top of the ladder, three points ahead of the Perth Thunder who still have a game in hand.

North Stars coach Andrew Petrie said that the weekend was an important one to dictate where the Novocastrians would end up at the end of the regular season.

“This weekend was key for us in the context of the overall season,” Petrie said. “Playing two solid teams [the Adrenaline and Brave] with different strengths was always going to be a challenge and the guys responded really well and put up a couple of solid performances.”

For Brave coach Brad Hunt, the game came down to the opportunities on both sides.

“The North Stars are a great team and they are playing really good hockey,” Hunt said. “It was always going to be a tough game. We’ve met them twice before in Newcastle and on both occasions it was tight. 

“It was a disappointing loss, there were a few things that didn’t go our way and they capitalised on our mistakes. We hit a few goal posts where as they had accurate shots and that’s where the game was won.”

Inside the first minute, the North Stars asserted their presence with Geordie Wudrick striking 44 seconds into the game after a slick passing play between Luke Moffatt and Shane Southwood.

With both teams chasing a six-point weekend, it was an evenly matched game throughout the first period.

The Brave were unable to take advantage of two power plays late in the first period as they found it difficult to work around Newcastle’s defence, heading to the first break behind 1-0.

Throughout the second, the Brave would build pressure, only to be denied by North Stars’ goalie Dayne Davis and occasionally the metal work.

However, the home side were the next to score when, fresh off a hat-trick, Kyle Mariani blasted a shot from the blue line, lighting the fire for the home team supporters.

The excitement was then extinguished only a minute later when Luke Moffatt took immediate advantage of a power play and Wudrick added his second on an opportunistic breakaway on the back of a poor line change just before the final break.

With a 3-1 lead, the North Stars extended the lead through a Beau Taylor goal soon after the resumption of play.

The Brave continued work hard, but was always on the back foot as Newcastle controlled large spells of possession and territory.

Continually denied by a strong goaltending performance and plenty of pings of the goalposts, the Brave’s bad luck continued when the net tipped over on goalkeeper Josh Unice, landing on the back of his neck.

The crowd was silence in concern for the popular netminder as he was attended to by medical staff from both sides.

In a positive sign, Unice rose from the ice and skated off without assistance; later to be sent to the hospital as a precaution and was later discharged on the same night with slight concussion.

To add insult to injury, Wudrick slamming home his hat-trick goal with just 33 seconds remaining to complete the 5-1 victory.

The Moffatt and Wudrick connection has proved fruitful this season as both players passed 50 points for the season in this game with North Stars coach Petrie praising all his imports.

“Moff and Woody are tremendous talents but what stands out for me with both of these guys is their competitiveness and their desire to win,” Petrie said. “From a coaching perspective we demand the same from them as we do from every other member of the team and that is to be defensively responsible, accountable to their teammates and when the time comes, to use their offensive talents as creatively as possible.

“As an organisation we have been incredibly fortunate with our imports this season; each one of them is hugely talented and driven to give everything they have on every shift but more importantly, they are genuinely good guys who fit into our culture and our group almost as if they've been here for years.” 

The result completed a tremendous month for the North Stars, scoring 42 goals in just seven games.

“The coaching staff recognised really early on that we have a lot of offensive weaponry on our squad and we are a fast skating team,” Petrie said. “Because of this we've developed a high tempo style that produces a lot of shots and quality scoring opportunities.”

Brave coach Hunt was also pleased with his side’s offensive output, but said the difference was that “their pucks just went in and ours didn’t” with several opportunities hitting the post.

Both sides are on the road next weekend on double headers as Newcastle fly off to Perth, and the CBR Brave travel to Melbourne to play the Mustangs.

Hunt said he was looking forward to the weekend’s matchup and that the Brave wouldn’t be taking the seventh-placed Mustangs lightly.

 “It is always a tough contest when we come up against the Mustangs, it is a great rivalry,” Hunt said. “Our training this week will focus on the areas that let us down against the North Stars. Despite their position on the ladder, the Mustangs are a strong outfit and our defence will need to rise to the challenge. 

“We know we’ve got what it takes to make finals, we’ve had a couple of tight losses and we need to capitalise the talent on our roster and build the momentum. Our run to finals will be played predominately at home which is where we always play our best. If we stick to the game plan and make a few adjustments, I have confidence that the team will make the top four.”