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1,026 words, 3 pics

THE CANADIAN PRESS
APRIL 6, 2013

TORONTO -- Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice... well, you know the saying.

The Toronto North Stars fooled just about everyone but themselves last season, after most prognosticators predicted the team to finish somewhere around fourth place in the East Division.

But General Manager JJ Krever and assistant GM Benjamin Wong didn't let that faze them, and of course neither did the rest of the team, as the Stars stormed to a top-place regular season finish, not just in the East Division but in the entire league.

"Last season our goaltending supposedly wouldn't be good enough; our defence lacked depth; and all of our offensive stars flew under the radar," said Krever.

"But we proved everyone wrong. By about two-thirds of the way through the season, we had a nine-point lead on first place in the entire SHL."

The Chiefs made a late surge, but the Stars held on for their second ever Presidents' Trophy win, tying the mark for the second highest total in league history.

They also won their first playoff series in dominant fashion, 4-1 against the Rage, before bowing out in dramatic form to the Chiefs after blowing a 2-1 lead in the dying minutes of game seven on home ice.

How quickly it's forgotten that the Stars were within minutes of appearing in their first Challenge Cup.

Prognosticators, even after messing up badly in last season's predictions, are so far picking the Stars to finish in third, fourth, or for some, even fifth place.


Uh oh -- looks like the pundits are at it again.

That's after the team made some upgrades this season, including providing shocking headlines with the major acquisition of Aidan Richan -- one of the top defencemen in the SHL.

The team also signed dynamic centre Charlie Chiclets to a two-year contract, bolstering their depth up the middle.

As well, making his debut for the Stars this season will be the younger brother of superstar forward Ben Wong. Nathan Wong, a superstar in the NWJHL who spent some time with Texas in the bigs last season, is expected to fill in on Toronto's third line, and should add scoring punch to the bottom-six.

Yet somehow, this team continues to fly under the radar.

"It's not surprising," said Krever with a sheepish grin. "We fooled them all last season, and I guess we're ready to fool them again."

"We won the Presidents' Trophy and performed exceptionally well in the playoffs, even outscoring the Chiefs in the entire series despite a very tight game-seven loss," he continued. "Then we get better, and for some reason people think we'll drop off the map."

One person predicting failure for the Stars was former Los Angeles Panthers' General Manager Chris McZehrl, who said the Stars will not make the playoffs next season.

McZehrl predicted the Wolfpack would finish ahead of Toronto for the fourth and final playoff spot, while the Stars and Platoon would round out the division at fifth and sixth.

Ben Wong said the prediction from McZehrl is typical.

"He hates the Toronto North Stars," said Wong, currently in his second off-season as a General Manager. "But I can speak for a fact that the Wongs feed off hate and we do better."

When Krever was asked about McZehrl's prediction, he said he had no idea, but had no problem shrugging it off.

"Who's Chris McZehrl?" the 13th-year GM asked half-seriously. "Doesn't he work for ESPN or something?"


Krever reacts to McZehrl's prediction that the Wolfpack will finish higher than Toronto.

Wong points out that ultimately, these types of predictions are meangingless, and critics are merely critics.

"The Toronto North Stars do not care about what other people think," he continues. "Because they control their own destiny. Maybe the critics are right? But, I'm sure they aren't because the Toronto North Stars are getting stronger every season."

Since the Stars' began their rebuild with Krever and Mike Ochocinco at the helm four seasons ago, it's true -- the Stars are getting stronger every season.

They've made the playoffs in every season since that rebuild began, and have also improved their point totals yearly. Just three seasons ago the team was one of the highest-scoring in the league, led by the super-combo of Robert Spezza and Wong.

Since then, though, the Stars have added a much more dynamic surrounding cast, with three lines that can score almost at will. The lineup's been injected with young players like Dave Smith, Phil Schenn, Yousuf Scherbluk, Grigori Pajari, and Rashad Thomas, and this year will be complemented by the addition of Charlie Chiclets and another young future star in Nathan Wong.

On the back-end, the Stars are the strongest they've ever been -- even better than when Darian Scherbluk, Patrick Pelletier, Ochocinco, Teemu Nurmi, and a young Chris Serpe anchored the blue line. Instead, this season, Richan, Scherbluk, Pelletier, a budding Dean Clarke, and a grown-up Chris Serpe hold down the fort on defence.

This year's Stars' team is shaping up to be better than it's ever been, and everyone on the team is on board with that sentiment. The only thing now is to prove they're not just the best on paper.

"We might be the best on paper, but what does that matter if all the prognosticators are predicting us to finish out of the playoffs?" the GM playfully mused.

"In all seriousness though, some teams really improved in this division, especially the Platoon and the Rage. It was a dogfight last season right to the end, and I fully expect it to be the same this season."


Rob Ford, for one, is on the Stars' bandwagon.

"What anyone else says doesn't matter. We can't get caught up in that, we just have to go out and do our own thing."

Luckily, the Stars have experience dealing with low expectations.

"In the end, it'll only help us. People think we're going to finish out of the playoffs, that plays to our advantage. Just like last season, we can lay low and watch everyone go wide-eyed as we make our way to the top."

This is the Toronto North Stars. The center of the hockey universe. We bow down to no one. We show our pride of the blue and white and we work hard until the final buzzer, of the playoffs.

Code:

1. Team Canada , Benjamin Wong 1 (Jay McDonald) at 8:49

first ever Canadian Olympic goal

#NorthStarPride

Originally posted by coolstar87@Apr 6 2013, 07:41 AM
This is the Toronto North Stars. The center of the hockey universe. We bow down to know one. We show our pride of the blue and white and we work hard until the final buzzer, of the playoffs.

Know one what?

Originally posted by Djesus@Apr 6 2013, 09:45 AM

Know one what?

I blame my phone

Code:

1. Team Canada , Benjamin Wong 1 (Jay McDonald) at 8:49

first ever Canadian Olympic goal

I think most people see the Stars as one of the best teams in the league. Only question mark is how Honcho will perform with a 6% regression.

What I like is that many people consider the team that has won 2 cups in 3 seasons to be the 3rd or 4th best team in the conference.

To be honest I think the top four could go either way. If Klose and Wintergo to the Rage like everyone expects then Manhattan is proabably strongest on paper and Minny and Hamilton will have a slight drop..

I also think WKP makes a lot of noise this season. Tough division!!

It will be interesting for sure and hard to predict at this point, because we don't know where some of the top free agents will go.

Either way, it will be one heck of a battle and I can see a 4th place team in our division having a great chance to upset a top team, because all teams should be pretty stacked.

Nice read btw

WHY DIDN'T YOU DRAFT ME S5 KREVER

Normand Marineau || C || #42 || Colorado Raptors || Team France || S79
Name: Normand Marineau
Age: 19
Birthplace: Saint Pierre et Miquelon, France
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 195 lbs
Number: 42
------------------------------------------------------------
Career Statistics:
SHL Regular Season:
TBD
SHL Playoffs:
TBD
SMJHL Regular Season:
S79 | 66 GP | 23 G | 21 A | 44 P | +8 | 1 PPP | 18 PIM | 122 SOG | 66 HIT | 40 SB | 54 TA | 54.9% FO
S78 | 66 GP | 18 G | 29 A | 47 P | +6 | 6 PPP | 24 PIM | 189 SOG | 45 HIT | 31 SB | 68 TA | 53.7% FO
SMJHL Playoffs:
S78 | 13 GP | 1 G | 4 A | 5 P | -9 | 0 PPP | 2 PIM | 27 SOG | 12 HIT | 5 SB | 4 TA | 42.4% FO
------------------------------------------------------------
International Career:
IIHF Round Robin:
TBD
IIHF Medal Round:
TBD
WJC Round Robin:
S78 | 12 GP | 1 G | 3 A | 4 P | +0 | 0 PPP | 2 PIM | 11 SOG | 6 HIT | 2 SB | 5 TA | 60.3% FO
WJC Medal Round:
S78 | 1 GP | 0 G | 0 A | 0 P | -1 | 0 PPP | 0 PIM | 0 SOG | 0 HIT | 1 SB | 1 TA | 44.4% FO
------------------------------------------------------------
Career Earnings and Draft Selections:
Signed a 1 year, $3,000,000 ELC Contract with the Minnesota Monarchs in S79
Drafted 1st Round, 14th Overall to the Minnesota Monarchs in the S79 SHL Entry Draft
Signed a 1 year, $5,000,000 Rookie Contract with the Colorado Raptors in S78
Drafted 2nd Round, 17th Overall to the Colorado Raptors in the S78 SMJHL Entry Draft
------------------------------------------------------------
Awards and Achievements:
Won the Colorado Raptors S78 Cassius Darrow Trophy for Most Outstanding Rookie

Good read

NORTH STARS

Former
SHL Head Commissioner S12ish-S27ish
GM S8 & S9 (Won cups both years)
2x GM Of The Year
5 Time Cup Winner
League MVP

Past Players
D - Aidan Richan - (S5 11th Overall)
C - Chico Salmon - (S17 1st overall)  

Current Player
D - Chico Smeb (S46)
SMJHL - Drafted 65th Overall by
SHL - Drafted 23rd Overall by

Stars mad confirmed.


Perennial play-off chokers

Whatever team I go to will win the cup next season.