NORTHSTARS coach John Kennedy jnr has praised the "resolve" shown by his squad in Melbourne over the weekend as he weights up how to approach Newcastle's last game before finals.
The Northstars (46 points) will now finish the Australian Ice Hockey League season in second spot after an overtime loss against the Ice on Saturday (3-2) means they can no longer surpass leaders Canberra Brave (49) on the ladder.
However, it was Newcastle's response just 24 hours later that most impressed Kennedy with a 7-4 win over the Mustangs, who have also qualified for the upcoming play-offs.
"We lost the first one and we wanted that one [to keep alive chances of finishing first]," Kennedy jnr said.
"But I loved our response coming into the second game. There was no panic and no stress among our team. The resolve within the locker room was the best I've felt all year."
The Northstars face finals-bound Sydney Bears at Macquarie Ice Rink on Saturday in what marks the last round of the regular season. Play-offs are held in Melbourne the following weekend (September 2-4).
Regardless of whether Newcastle draw level with Canberra on points, the Brave have now claimed the minor premiership based on head-to-head records this year.
"I'm not sure how we're going to go about it [routine or experiment], but the main thing is we play our brand of hockey," Kennedy jnr said.
"We don't want to pull anything back and say this game doesn't matter ... we want to keep building into finals weekend."
