The Northstars are a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL), joining as an expansion team in 2002.

The team is based at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in Warners Bay, a suburb of Lake Macquarie, 15 kilometres south-west of Newcastle.

The Red Wings became the North Stars in 1978 and were leading the national 'Super League' at the time when the Newcastle ice rink went into liquidation in late 1982.

The team mostly consisted of Canadian expatriates along with four talented local-born players contested the New South Wales Senior B championship.

[5] Don Champagne was appointed the inaugural Northstars AIHL head coach while Bill Jones was named foundation captain.

[10] The Northstars backed up this success in 2004 by finishing top of the league table having only lost one match all season and claimed the team's first premiership and V.I.P.

[11] Success continued in 2005 and 2006 with the Northstars claiming back-to-back Goodall Cups with victories over rivals Adelaide Avalanche in the final in both seasons.

[12][13] The decade between 2007 and 2016 saw the Northstars continue their strong position within the league, establishing a winning tradition within the team culture.

[22] 2018 saw an improvement in the Northstars with thirteen wins in the season and a fifth-place finish under the leadership of stand-in coaching trio, Joey Theriault, Ray Sheffield and Garry Doré.

They finished the season runners-up in the league standings and qualified for the finals which were played in Newcastle for the first time in seven years.

The following are the top five all-time leaders in five different statistical categories: matches played;[31] goals;[32] assists;[33] points;[34] penalty minutes[35] Staff roster for the 2024 AIHL season[29] The Proski Newcastle North Stars' primary rivals are the Sydney Ice Dogs (Formally West Sydney Ice Dogs).

The two teams have a rich history in the AIHL Finals of facing off in big matches in pursuit of the Goodall Cup.

The Northstars and Adelaide have a knack of facing off in big finals matches with both teams sharing in the winning spoils at different times.

In 2005, the two teams fought for the regular season title with the Avalanche finishing first but the Northstars used their home crowd advantage in the final to secure a 3–1 victory.

The Northstars then kicked into life and fought back to win the match 4-3 thanks to a third period hat trick to league MVP Geordie Wudrick.

[41][42] Northstar's head coach, Andrew Petrie, took the issue up with the local media and labelled the Brave disrespectful and a team trying to buy the league title.

[43][44] The four 2016 regular season matches saw the two teams rack up 178 penalty minutes and end Brave import Art Bidlevskii's career.

[45] The two teams met in the AIHL final with the Northstars triumphing over the Brave 2–1 to clinch their sixth Goodall Cup.

[46] In 2017, Newcastle legend, Rob Starke switched to the Brave to take up the head coaching position following his playing retirement.

In 2019, the two teams fought for the H Newman Reid trophy for finishing premiers on top of the regular season table.

[49] North Stars goalie Matt Ezzy was voted "Sportsperson of the Year" by the Lake Macquarie City Council for his 2005 season in February 2006, and was a finalist for the same award in 2007.

North Stars defenceman and assistant captain Rob Starke was also a finalist for Senior Sportsperson of the year, 2007.

Glenn Foll, who captained the Australian national team between 1990 and 2006, is the only player who has played for the Northstars and won the Hudson Trophy.

The retired jersey number banners hang on the player's bench side of the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium.