The Soo North Stars find themselves just two wins away from capturing the 23rd Annual Steel City International Hockey Tournament.
With the local club in control of their own destiny, the North Stars put together a solid hockey game at both ends of the ice to beat the Green Bay Jr. Gamblers 4-1 on Saturday in the AAA midget major division at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
The win secured first place in the A division for the North Stars, who finish the round robin with a 3-0-1 record, and places the team into one semi-final on Sunday morning against the Chicago Flames, the winner of the D division. Game time is 10:30 a.m. at the Rhodes.
Should the North Stars emerge from the semi-finals, the team will vault into Sunday's final at 3:30 p.m. at the Rhodes.
Against Green Bay, the North Stars started slow but continued to build momentum as the game wore and eventually controlled the play for the second half of the contest.
"We started a little slow but once we got into the game we controlled the play and forechecked hard," said North Stars head coach Mike Hall. "But we need to come out harder tomorrow because we won't be able to throw away eight minutes of hockey before we decide it's time to play and get away with it.
"This isn't an easy tournament and there are a lot of good teams here. If you look at our division, every team has won and there hasn't been any blow outs. We were looking for good competition and that's what we're getting."
The Gamblers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on an Andy Davis goal.
The North Stars began to take control when Tyler Gendron scored on the power play with 21 seconds remaining in the first period. The locals then jumped ahead with another power play marker just 1:11 into the second period when Matt D'Agostini skated in from the corner and snapped a shot past the Green Bay netminder.
The Soo completed the scoring with a late second period goal from Michael Sharp, who converted a D'Agostini pass off a turnover, and an early third period score from Gendron, who tipped a Sharp pass into the top corner of the net.
"Gendron had a really good game for us today and it's not because he had two goals. He really worked hard along the wall which is a big part of the game and it was nice to see because he has been struggling a bit lately," said Hall.
Shaun Siemers anchored a strong North Star defense and was the selected the game's most valuable player. D'Agostini and Sharp also added a pair of assists.
The North Stars will benefit from Saturday's early 11:30 a.m. start as the team will receive some extra rest over the competition with over 21 hours off before Sunday morning's game.
"The extra rest we are getting is a key," said Hall. "Most of teams are going to have to play twice today and have games later (Saturday night). We are done, have a chance to recoup and get back at it tomorrow."