The Northstars defeated the visiting Brisbane Lightning 9-1 at home in front of a capacity crowd on Saturday night, with young local goaltender Matthew Montgomery getting his first start for Newcastle. It was an action packed game on the ice with the first start for Montgomery in between the pipes, first AIHL goals from new imports Yuill, Matthews and a triumphant return for Riley Klugerman bringing along his brother Hayden to bolster the Northstars lineup.
The crowd were loud and the atmosphere thick from the moment the puck first dropped, and with each goal they only got louder. The fans were just as eager as the team to shake the loss from last week.
Getting back to basics, the Northstars played a highly structured game and were effective at every level.
Head coach Kevin Noble shared his thoughts on the team returning to their winning form:
“We talked a lot over last couple of weeks about getting back into some structure and pace of play and some of the small details and bigger details in our team defensively, our team neutral zone and our offensive zone play that we got away from for a couple of weeks.”
“And tonight I thought for the first time for 60 minutes we were able to get to our game for a significant amount of time and play connected as five and as a unit in all three zones, and that's something that, you know, we had got away from there for a couple of weeks back. So it was good to see.”
Alexander Yuill, one of the Northstars’ newest import arrivals, got the game started with his first AIHL goal and had the crowd on their feet. First period would remain strong for the Northstars with returning forward Riley Klugerman and Kyler Matthews both getting their first of the season.
Yuill shared, “It was a really good atmosphere and really fun. It’s always nice to get the first goal out of the way, but especially at home and the first goal of the game was really nice.”
Northstars went to the first break holding a 3-0 lead over the visiting Lightning.
Once the second period was underway, it didn’t take long for Riley Klugerman to have the fans on their feet once again, securing his second goal of the game. As the momentum for the home team continued to build, Matthews also netted his second of the game.
Matthews reflected on the game sharing, “It was a good team game tonight. I got to work on a few things and our goalie played so well. We were getting pucks deep and we were in the offensive zone more than our end which makes life a lot easier.”
We crept towards the end of the second period and Northstars Daniel Berno and Francis Drolet would add to the home team’s tally taking the game to the second intermission with the Northstars leading 7-0.
The Lightning lifted in period three. It took over 5 minutes of the final third for Yuill to find the back of the net for the second time followed by Riley Klugerman’s third to secure a hattrick on his return to the Northstars lineup.
“I loved it tonight, I’ve missed playing here and I’ve been looking forward to being back all year. I consider this home, and we had a good group effort. Everyone was supporting each other and everyone was in the right position firing on all cylinders,” shared Klugerman on his return to Newcastle.
The Lightning got one back in the last minutes of the game, but this one belonged to Newcastle who win with a final score of 9 goals to 1.
With new players in the line up including Riley and Hayden Klugerman, and new import defenders Kyler Matthews and Alex Yuill, Noble shared, “I could go through the line-up all the way through and speak really well and proudly about each individual. So I guess in saying that, the score aside, I was more looking at our details in our game.
“I was really proud of our group and how they played in front of Monty tonight and I was just really proud on how he came in and really was able to calm things down for us back there and do a really great job.”
Captain Liam Manwarring shared his thoughts, “It’s a great win for us. We've got a little bit of a gap at the top now, and we definitely played like we had a gap, which is nice. There was a lot of positivity going into the game and coming out of that game.”
“All I can say is the boys battled so hard for the hardest work tonight and Matt Montgomery was awesome and I'm so proud of that kid. It felt like a real team effort. It felt like everything came together from the back to the front.”
On Montgomery’s first start for Newcastle, Noble shared, “I think it speaks to the character of our locker room and to Monty that he was able to come in and have such an influence on our guys and how our guys really rallied around him as he played his first really big start in the AIHL.”
“It's hard not to be romantic about sports. And tonight, seeing the way our guys played in front of him and the way he played tonight and how well he played, I was really happy for him and happy for our guys. And they certainly are on their day off tomorrow,” finished Noble.
The Northstars will rest up on Sunday and return on Saturday 25
th May to welcome the Canberra Brave back to Hunter Ice Skating Stadium. Get your tickets from Northstars.thundertix.com
BRAVE
NORTHSTARS
BEARS
THUNDER
ICE
RHINOS
LIGHTNING
ADRENALINE
MUSTANGS
