Trey Phillips and Luke Simpson will line-up for the Northstars in Newcastle this weekend after the Canadian imports "gelled" with their latest teammates at training on Thursday night.
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It means Phillips and Simpson will get their first taste of Australian Ice Hockey League action just 72 hours after the mid-season recruits arrived in the country.
"The strength of our team has been a core group of players but these two new guys, after what I saw last night [Thursday], gelled really well and will be suited to our style of play," Northstars coach John Kennedy jnr said.
"Trey is small but fast with great feet ... Luke is a bit taller at 6'1 with a good set of hands."
Phillips and Simpson replace outgoing overseas duo Slovakian Dominik Gabaj (injured) and Czech Ondrej Smach (unavailable), who departed Newcastle last week, debuting in Sunday's clash against the Sydney Ice Dogs at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium (4pm).
Canadian pair Sammy Banga and Francis Drolet, who are one and two respectively for individual points at the Northstars, remain at the Warners Bay venue while Czech native Tomas Landa became an Australian resident last month.
Queenslander Thomas Kiliwnik was recently brought into the squad following injuries to Gabaj, Richard Tesarik and Matt Lindsay.
Newcastle are on top of the charts having dropped only one game in 2019, but Kennedy jnr said the Northstars would welcome the upcoming break after playing 11 matches in six weeks.
"It will be good for the boys to get a rest," he said.
Meanwhile, the St Louis Blues are one win away from their first Stanley Cup triumph after a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins gave them a 3-2 lead in the National Hockey League's best-of-seven championship.
The Blues, swept by Boston in their last Stanley Cup final appearance in 1970, got goals from Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron on Thursday while Jordan Binnington made 38 saves for the win.
