Newcastle coach Kevin Noble hailed a gutsy performance after the Northstars came from two goals down to claim a 4-2 victory over Perth Thunder on Saturday.
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Already battling with players out of action, the Northstars lost Zane Jones (leg) and Andrew Smardon (neck) for periods of the game in Western Australia, but managed to bounce back from an early deficit to claim an important win on the road.
"It's one of the shorter benches that I've ever been a part of in elite hockey," Noble said. "I was really, really proud of the effort.
"To get behind two goals early, and to claw our way back with the amount of bodies we ended up having for the last two periods, was really, really impressive.
"We were down to seven forwards, five defenders.
"We had injuries and penalty trouble at times, so we had guys playing a lot of minutes. Guys really had to grind it out. We were really fortunate to get a win in a very difficult place to play."
After Perth's double in the first period, Northstars forward Daniel Berno hit back in the second before netting again in the third along with Matt Price and Ethan Hawes.
"For 40 minutes we were excellent, [but] for the first 20 it took us a while to get going," Noble said.
"Spotting them two almost cost us, but credit to the guys for really battling back and finding that urgency in the game to claw back. On the road down two-nothing, we could have easily folded up our shop and gone home.
"To find a way to win like that is pretty impressive."
The Northstars moved into third in their conference and sixth overall after three wins and six losses in 2023.
They host rivals Central Coast Rhinos this Saturday before an exhibition game against a Canadian college side St. John's on Sunday.
"They'll be high standard, division three," Noble said.
"Only a handful of our guys have played at that level."
