Four North Stars selected to represent team in SJHL/MJHL Showcase

Four Battlefords North Stars were named to represent their team and league as a whole. Defensemen Cody Spagrud and Matthew Fletcher will both suit up on the blue line for Team Kunitz, along with their teammates in forwards MacGregor Sinclair and Matthias Urbanski.

Battlefords’ head coach Brayden Klimosko will serve as assistant coach to Melfort’s Trevor Blevins behind the bench for Team Mitchell.

“It’s definitely a huge honour,” Spagrud said. “I think any time you get to represent your team at an event like this, it’s definitely something you want to look forward to and have fun with.”

For Spagrud, Sinclair and Urbanski, 2019 will mark their second showcase appearance.

Fletcher, on the other hand, will make his debut at the interleague exhibition Monday at 5 p.m. when Team Kunitz first takes to the ice.

A rookie with the Stars last season, Fletcher has continued to flourish in his second season with the team, already improving on last year’s offensive totals with two goals and 14 assists in 38 games. The offence is just the tip of the iceberg, however, when it comes to the 19-year-old’s continued development.

“I’ve grown a lot this season, a lot more than last season to be honest,” he said upon a moment of reflection. “I’ve been put in a lot bigger roles and opportunities than last season, so just trial and error kind of learning from mistakes has really grown me as a player.”

Fletcher’s position at the Showcase proves the growth in his all-around game has not gone unnoticed around the league as well. The rosters for the event have been determined by individual rankings done by SJHL coaches’ league-wide, taken and averaged out to find the consensus top players.

For Urbanski, who was on the rookie team last season and will shift to join his veteran teammates this time around, it’s that elite competition within the SJHL lineup that offers a new opportunity to stack up against the league’s best, playing their best, with scouts in attendance.

“This is really where you hear about the skilled guys around the league,” he said. “You compare them against one another to see how good everyone is, so yeah, I’m really excited to be on the veteran team this year.”

Sinclair is the lone North Stars’ representative to already have his academic future solidified, having committed to Canisius College for the 2019-20 season in late November 2017.

With a Division-1 scholarship already solidified, Sinclair said the biggest thing this weekend for him is just enjoying the comradery brought about with an event like this.

“Just getting to mingle with some of the SJ guys that you’ve played against for three years is probably the biggest part about this,” he said.

Team Kunitz will play their first game tonight at 5 p.m.

A look at the schedule for Day one of the Showcase

Game 1: 11 a.m. – Team Schwartz vs Team Garbutt (*Rookie game)

Game 2: 2 p.m. – Team Mitchell vs. Team Zajac

Game 3: 5 p.m. – Team Belfour vs. Team Kunitz

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1

by Martin Martinson

Four North Stars selected to represent team in SJHL/MJHL Showcase

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