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Delainey, Gryzbowski named player, goalie of the week

Sep 28, 2016 | 12:21 PM

Two North Stars were recognized for their efforts this past week, as Reed Delainey was named the SJHL player of the week and Joel Gryzbowski was named goalie of the week.

Delainey has been the North Stars most consistent player this season, leading the team with nine points in seven games. His nine points rank second in the entire league, just one point back of leader Kaelan Holt of the Estevan Bruins.

All of Delainey’s points have come in the last six games, meaning he’s on a six game point-streak at five goals, four assists.

Delainey has hovered around a point-per-game during each of the last two seasons, but has gotten injured in both of them. In 2014-15, he had 32 points in 37 games and in 2015-16, he had 38 points in 39 games. If he can stay healthy this season, he will likely easily top 40 points for the first time in his career.

The 20-year-old is committed to the Rochester Institute of Technology for the 2017-18 season.

Meanwhile, Joel Gryzbowski was named the goalie of the week after stopping 41 of 42 shots in two wins last week; one against Melville and one against Melfort.

His North Stars defencemen made things easy for him in those two games, allowing just 26 and 16 shots in the two games respectively, but Gryzbowski made saves when he needed to.

The 17-year-old attended training camp with the Saskatoon Blades in August and early September but was sent back to the North Stars after the Blades acquired 19-year-old goaltender Logan Flodell in a trade.

There are currently three goaltenders on the North Stars roster – Gryzbowski, Taryn Kotchorek and Ryan Rewerts – but that may not be the case for much longer, as eventually the roster will have to be cut from 26 to 23.

The North Stars next game is Saturday, October 1 on the road against the Melfort Mustangs, whom the North Stars beat on Sunday evening 4-0.

 

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.Kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11