THUNDER BAY – Joe Newhouse says the Thunder Bay North Stars may have backed into this week’s Dudley-Hewitt Cup, but they plan to show the competition it’s where they belonged all along.
The North Stars, coming off a hard-fought six-game defeat in the Bill Salonen Cup final to the host Dryden Ice Dogs, says the excitement has been building ever since.
“It’s a big opportunity. It’s almost once-in-a-lifetime, you could say. Not many people get to play their junior careers and get to play in the Dudley or a chance to go to the RBC (Cup), so yeah, we’re excited,” the veteran defenceman and North Stars captain said on Sunday prior to practice, the final on-ice tune-up before the team hit the road on Monday for Dryden, where the Stars and Ice Dogs will be joined by the Wellington Dukes of the Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League champion Cochrane Crunch.
Not knowing much about Wellington and Cochrane makes it tough, but Newhouse said they’ve seen some film and can develop a game-plan from there.
It’s not the time to start reinventing things, he added.
“We’re a big, fast strong team. We’re good from the goaltender out. If we stick to our own game we’ll be fine. It doesn’t matter what other teams do too much,” Newhouse said.
It’ll also be a North Stars squad blessed with an offensive weapon it was missing during the SIJHL final, with forward Keighan Gerrie cleared to return to the lineup.
The youngest player in the league this past season, Gerrie scored 24 goals and 51 points in 53 games for the Stars and said it was tough watching from the sidelines as the SIJHL playoffs wound down.
He’s eager to get back on the ice to try to help deliver the North Stars second Dudley-Hewitt Cup title, 12 years after NHLers Robert Bortuzzo and Carter Hutton led the team to its first.
“I’m back, so hopefully we’ve got some momentum coming into the Dudley now. We’ve just got to put it all out there for the 20-year-olds,” he said, adding he plans to bring a little offence to the Thunder Bay team that kicks off the tournament on Tuesday afternoon against Cochrane.
“I’m well-rested now, had a couple weeks off. Hopefully I’ll be fine out there, making plays and maybe putting up a couple of points.”
North Stars coach Rob DeGagne said Gerrie will be a boost to the Thunder Bay’s offence, and his return couldn’t come at a better time.
“It’ll be huge,” DeGagne said.
“He’ll be a big addition to our lineup. Whatever it does, it gives us more depth in the third and fourth line as well. We get better players that move down the ladder and it makes our whole team stronger.”
The first-year coach said the team was disappointed at not taking the SIJHL title, blaming it on running out of gas while dealing with injuries and suspensions.
“We know we can play with Dryden. We know we can beat Dryden. So really our goal this week is to play well in the first couple of games, get some wins under our belt and prepare to get to the weekend. We want to get to the weekend and then anything can happen.”
The teams will play a three-game round-robin, with the No. 1 team earning a bye to Sunday’s final and the second- and third-place finishers playing in Saturday’s semifinal.
The Stars take on Wellington on Wednesday and Dryden on Thursday.
Follow Leith Dunick on Twitter: @LeithDunick
