By Nathan Kanter

AAA Stars begin pre-season with road win

Sep 19, 2016 | 12:00 PM

Two of their top players were missing and the goaltending situation is still murky, but regardless, the Battlefords AAA Stars won their first pre-season game on Saturday, 5-3 over the Beardy’s Blackhawks.

For their first time playing together, new head coach Darren Martens was pleased with the effort his group brought.

“It was kind of what I expected [from] a new bunch of guys who haven’t really played together,” Martens said. “We’ve got things to work on … but I think the effort was there and that’s one thing that’s always hard to bring.”

Forward Adam Beckman and defenceman Luke Reid weren’t dressed because they were one of 26 players trying out at the Saskatchewan U-16 fall camp in Wilcox. Martens said he didn’t find out they were going to the provincial team camp until a few days before Saturday’s exhibition game.

Their absence was most notably felt on the powerplay, which went zero for nine on the night.

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“Our powerplay struggled,” Martens said. “We didn’t have the two powerplay units that we were practicing all week together so that made it a little tough.”

Despite struggles on the man advantage, the Stars found the back of the net five times on 38 shots, including scoring twice while shorthanded.

“I just told them that any shot is a good shot,” Martens said. “They were shooting the puck at the start but they were missing the net and then they started hitting the net and getting the rebounds and pucks starting going in.”

It was in the middle frame when Blackhawks goalie Jake Davidson started letting ones slip by.

The Stars entered the second up 2-1, after defenceman Parker Gavlas scored with just six seconds left in the first period to put the visitors up by one. Jaden Shewchuk followed that up with a goal less than two minutes into the second period, before netting another one just three minutes later, this time shorthanded.

Logan Spence would later increase the lead to 5-1 before goaltender Cam Taylor held on for the 5-3 win.

Taylor stopped 33 of 36 shots in the win, as last year’s starter Lance Alm got the night off.

Martens said it is still very unclear on who will back up Alm this season, as he has his eye on a couple other goaltenders who may be released by other teams before the season starts.

“I know some teams are letting some goalies go and there’s a couple – well there’s one in particular that I like and I’m just waiting to see what happens,” Martens said. “I’ll be waiting until the end [of camp] to make a decision on that.”

There are three other exhibition games on the docket for the Stars before the regular season gets underway. The next pre-season game is on Tuesday against the Saskatoon Blazers in what will be the first home game for the Stars.

“I remember playing at [the Civic Centre] when I was younger,” Martens said. “I’m excited for the boys.”

Overall, Martens said he is very much looking forward to his first season behind the bench, as he has high expectations for the year.

“I’ve been really impressed by the group of guys we have,” he said. “I think we have a great group and that’s where it starts – they all have a great attitude and with that anything is possible. I’m looking for big things to happen – it’s not going to happen overnight but it’s going to be a growing process.”

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