A trio of Flin Flon players have been named to the roster of this year’s Norman Northstars.
Defender Gage Gogal, goalie Paxton Moore and forward Nole Pearson are the three latest representatives of the area on the regional AAA U18 team for northern Manitoba and Nunavut. The club announced its opening night roster August 28, including Gogal, Moore, Pearson and 18 other players.
Gogal played for the team last season, suiting up for 35 games. Gogal registered two points in that time, along with 36 penalty minutes, picking up the team’s most improved player award at the end of the year. Moore also played for the Northstars, seeing ice time in six games and registering a win in a 6-5 overtime thriller against the Kenora Thistles in November.
Pearson played last year for Prairie Hockey Academy in the Canadian Sport Schools Hockey League (CSSHL) U17 league, where he put up 16 points in 26 games. Pearson will join the same team that his older brother Magnus played for last season.
Similar to most years, much of the Northstars’ initial 21-player roster - seven players, in fact - is from Thompson. Three players from The Pas, along with two others from Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN), also made the cut. No players from Norway House or Cross Lake made the final roster, with only one player - Trenton Flett from Split Lake - coming from outside northern Manitoba’s “big five” communities.
This year's Northstars roster also features a strong contingent from Nunavut's Kivalliq region. Five players come from the territory, including some of the team’s likely top players. Last year, six Northstars players came from Nunavut.
This year’s Norman squad will see significant roster turnover from last year and changes to the coaching staff, as former head coach Ryan Stuart will share duties with Greg Long in a co-coaching agreement. While the Northstars hit their highest season point total since 2013, many of the players that got them there have aged out or moved on to junior hockey. That includes team MVP goalie Tucker St. John, defenceman Cheechoo Lathlin (who was at camp with the Bombers) and the team’s whole first line of Brady Krentz, Clark Scaddan and Ian Snooks, who have committed to join the MJHL’s OCN Blizzard.
The top returning scorer from last year’s Northstars, Prime Paniyuk of Coral Harbour, Nunavut, had 15 points in 38 games in the Northstars’ double blue. Paniyuk, Ethan Portey of Thompson and Rankin Inlet’s Kadin Eetuk will also be relied on for offence, having scored 11 and eight points last year respectively.
