North Stars lead the way — 2016-17 Season Reviews — USP3HL

The Traverse City North Stars dominated the United States Premier Hockey League’s USP3HL Midwest Division last season and carried its act all the way to the Best of Three Championship at the National tournament in March.

The Stars completed a 34-7-2 to finish with 70 points, 11 better than second place Decatur Blaze (26-11-7) who finished eight up on third place Motor City Hawks (24-17-3).

Alpena Flyers were next with 49 points (24-9-1).

The second, third and fourth place squads carried home ice advantage into the opening round of the post season with the Stars drawing a bye to the second round.

The Blaze pushed past the seventh place Tri-City IceHawks (9-31-3) in two straight games while Motor City pushed sixth place Kalkaska Rhinos (20-21-3) to the sidelines in two straight as well. The middle series saw the Flyers getting by fifth place Ironwood Yoopers (19-19-6) in two games as well.

The Stars came back for the second round and advanced to Nationals with a sweep of the Flyers while Decatur grabbed the other spot winning a hard-fought series in three games against Motor City.

Stars and Blaze represented with the Midwest Division along with Charlotte Rush and Florida Jr. Blades from the South Division, Eugene Generals from the Pacific Division and Jersey Hitmen from the North.

North Stars got off to a slow start in the preliminary matches of the National event, dropping its opener to the Hitmen 6-5 before rallying with a 6-5 edge against the Rush to wrap up opening day and then a 4-1 win over the Jr. Blades in its final round robin game on March 10.

The Blaze also started slow, falling 7-3 to the Jr. Blades in its opening game before responding with a 6-1 win against the Hitmen and dropping a 2-1 edge to Eugene on the second day.

Both teams qualified among the top four and moved into Championship semi-finals, the North Stars using a 7-2 win against the Blaze to advance to a Best of Three Championship round against the Jr. Blades who eliminated Charlotte with a 4-1 edge.

Despite getting an earlier win against the Jr. Blades, the Stars failed to collect a goal in the Championship Series as the Junior Blades captured a 4-0 shutout win in the opener March 11 and then captured the title with a 2-0 margin the following day.

Offensively, the Midwest Division was led by Joey Starcevich, a 20-year-old native of St. John, IN who collected 33 goals and 60 assists for a 93-point season with the Decatur Blaze,

Buddy Rose, 20 was one of several home towners on the Traverse City North Stars. He was second in division scoring with 81 points (38g, 43a) and third spot went to Luka Znidarsic, a 20-year-old from Slovenia who collected 81 points (44g, 37a) for the Blaze

Rounding out the top five was Austin Flores, 21, from Hartland, MI who contributed 78 points (39g, 39a) or the North Stars and 18-year-old Parker Hebden, another local for the Traverse City squad the contributed 77 points (28g, 49a).

Daniel Collins is listed as the division’s leading goaltender, his 15 wins leading the way. The 20-year-old native of Fraser, MI posted a 3.77 Goals Against Average and a Save Percentage of .882 in 36 regular season games for the Motor City Hawks.

Brendan Lacharite, 19, from Traverse City led the Stars with a 2.93 GAA and a .898 SP while collecting 14 regular season wins.

Aaron Neighbor also helped the North Stars, the Hartland, MI picking up 13 wins while posting a miniscule 1.83 GAA and a SP of .921.

Rounding out the top five with 11 wins apiece was: Matthew Brunton, 19, from British Columbia who posted a 3.22 GAA and a .896 SP for the Alpena Flyers and Donavan Bird, an 18-year-old native of Elgin, IL who appeared in 17 games for the Blaze, posting a GAA of 4.21 and a SP of .895.

For the end of season awards, each division nominated an individual for each honor and they went against the other representatives for the League title.