The North Star Wolves boys hockey team bounced back from a poor regular season finale and won their first playoff game.
The Wolves hosted Lajeunesse this past Monday afternoon in a WECSSAA preliminary round playoff game at the Libro Centre. North Star entered the playoffs after a 2-6 regular season but hosted the Royals, who had a 1-6-1 record.
Jackson Mastronardi opened the scoring for the Wolves. Captain Wyatt Jackson, Jake Beaudoin and Christian Barron also scored for North Star.
The Wolves entered the playoffs on a down note, losing 6-1 last Tuesday afternoon at the Libro Centre.
Sawyer Krokos had the only goal for North Star in the game, with that coming after the visiting Cardinal Carter Cougars had scored the first six goals of the game.
Mastronardi believed they needed to be more aggressive. He said they could have forechecked better as well against the Cougars.
Teammate Graham Evans added the Wolves could have put forth a better effort.
“It started off slowly and we played slow,” he said. “It didn’t work out well. We didn’t have enough shots. The boys were inconsistent.”
“We could have done better,” added Mastronardi.
Head coach Glen Holden said his Grade 9 line, of which Mastronardi is a part of played well, but other than that, it was an “uninspired” effort.
The Wolves didn’t have any practices between the end of the exam break and the Feb. 4 game, but Holden did not use that as an excuse.
“Regardless, when you’re playing the game of hockey, you’ve got to be ready to compete,” said Holden, after the Cardinal Carter game. “Hopefully we can push this one aside and get ready for the playoffs.”
Holden added: “This is one of those games, based on the standings, we should have been able to compete better.”
North Star’s next game is Thursday and will likely be against Belle River or Essex.
Wolves open playoffs vs. Lajeunesse
By Ron Giofu
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