Ron Valentine is profiling the 10 teams participating in the 2023 Centennial Cup in Portage la Prairie May 11-21. 

Today: the Saskatchewan champion Battlefords North Stars

By Ron Valentine

Representing the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League at the Centennial Cup will be the BATTLEFORDS NORTH STARS. 

The club was ranked second overall in this season's final CJHL rankings. In the regular season, competing in the four team Global AG Risk Solutions Division, the Stars finished in first place, and first overall in the 12-team league, with 99 points including 48 wins in their 56-game schedule.

In the playoffs for the Canterra Seeds Cup, the club topped the Weyburn Red Wings four games to one before sweeping the Melfort Mustangs, from the Sherwood division, in the second round and the Flin Flon Bombers, who finished the regular season first in that division, in the final. 

The North Stars play their home games at the Access Communications Centre, which can hold 2,500 spectators. It was formerly known as the Civic Centre. They won 25 of the 28 games played on home ice. One of the losses came in a shootout.

The Stars had two 100-point scorers in the regular season with Nova Scotia-born Kian Bell finishing with 102 and Holden Doell, committed to NCAA Division 1 Ferris State next season, on 100. 

Jake Southgate, a Lindenwood University (St. Charles, Missouri) D3 commit, had 82 points. During the postseason, Bell led the way again with 16 goals and 25 points. Southgate had 22 points, Doell 20. 

Guarding the cage in the regular season, Josh Kotai, a native of Abbotsford, BC, appeared in 39 games posting a 2.39 goals against average including three shutouts and in the playoffs he had three more clean sheets in 13 games and his GAA was 1.72. The Abbotsford, BC native will be attending a new NCAA Division 1 entry, Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD, in the fall.

Battlefords' GM/head coach is Brayden Klimosko. He is one of five finalists for the Darcy Haugan/Mark Cross Memorial Award, emblematic of CJHL Coach of the Year, for the 2022-23 campaign. He played for his hometown Humboldt Broncos in Junior A and became the North Stars assistant coach for the 2013-14 season. He moved up to head coach in 2018-19, before acquiring the GM portfolio the next season. Brayden was an assistant coach at the World Junior A Challenge this season for Team Canada West and was named SJHL co-coach of the year in 2000.

"Right from the start we knew we had a pretty strong club here in Battlefords" the head coach noted, "We had a lot of returning players and we won our first 10 games before losing in a shootout at home to Melfort. Adding Kian Bell early from the Cape Breton Eagles of the QMJHL was a really big plus for us. His numbers speak for themselves."

"We have a really good group here that are committed to working hard and doing everything that's needed to be successful. They have developed a great chemistry over the course of our grueling travel season."

"Our loss at home, 3-2 to Weyburn in the first game of the playoffs, was a bit of a wakeup call for us but the guys pushed hard and we never looked back. Melfort took us to double overtime in Game 3 of that series but all the games were a battle."

"Josh Kotai is a workhorse for us in goal and he deserves the scholarship and perhaps, in time. an NHL career, he's that good. It gives the players confidence knowing Josh is between the pipes."

"We have had a chance to do some limited scouting but at the Cup we will be just taking it one game at a time. After our season we have had a chance to reset, get some time away from the ice, heal some bruises and get ourselves ready for what will be for most of the players the highlight of their junior careers." 

For more on the Centennial Cup, go to the tournament website: https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/national-championships/men/national-junior-a/2023