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Three North Stars win weekly awards

Feb 9, 2016 | 5:51 AM

The Battlefords North Stars won all three of their games last week and the efforts of three of their players didn’t go unnoticed by the league.

Igor Leonenko was named the player of the week after scoring twice and adding six assists in the three games. The 21-year-old forward scored once and chipped in three assists in Wednesday’s 10-3 win over the Notre Dame Hounds, had two assists in Friday’s 4-2 win over Melville and scored the game-winning goal while adding an assist in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Yorkton. The Russian-born forward has shattered his previous career highs across the board offensively. He’s now up to 36 goals and 37 assists which is good for third in league scoring behind Alex Smith of the Flin Flon Bombers and Travis Mayan of the Melfort Mustangs.

The defenceman of the week was 17-year-old Martensville native Levi Kleiboer as he recorded five assists over the three games. Kleiboer had one assist on Wednesday and Friday before setting a career high with three assists in Yorkton. It was Kleiboer’s second three-point effort of the season as he recorded a goal and two assists in the first game of the year. Kleiboer becomes the third North Stars defenceman to reach the 20 point plateau (one goal, 20 assists) joining fellow rookie Cody Spagrud (two goals, 22 assists) and Connor Sych (eight goals, 19 assists). Team captain Kendall Fransoo isn’t far behind with two goals and 16 assists on the campaign.

Lastly the rookie of the week went to Layne Young who had a monster week with five goals and three assists. Wednesday Young scored his first career hat trick, including the game-winning goal, and added an assist. Friday was nearly an identical performance as he scored twice, again netting the game winner, with another assist before adding the primary assist on Leonenko’s game winner in Yorkton. Young’s rookie season continues to get better and better as he’s now up to 65 points on the year. Not only does Young lead the SJHL in rookie scoring, but the entire Canadian Junior Hockey League which consists of 126 teams across the country.