By Nathan Kanter

AAA Stars can’t stay out of box in loss to Legionnaires

Oct 3, 2016 | 6:34 AM

The AAA Stars couldn’t stay out of the box in their 3-1 loss to the Swift Current Legionnaires on Sunday afternoon.

They were shorthanded nine times over the course of the game and took a total of 10 minor penalties.

“You give any team enough chances on the power play and they’re going to score,” AAA Stars head coach Jean Fauchon said following the game. “Eight penalties yesterday, nine penalties [today], and they got two powerplay goals today.

“I still think we’re not playing as a group of five on the ice each time. We’re playing a little bit more like individuals and that’s when bad things happen and people get caught out of place. That’s when you end up taking the tripping and the holding and all sorts of penalties.”

Half of the penalties the team took on Sunday were for the types of minor infractions Fauchon referred to including holding the stick, tripping, hooking, and interference.

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But the others were for more frustrating calls like cross-checking, boarding, checking from behind, and unsportsmanlike conduct.

“There are some penalties that we need to discuss with the players that just shouldn’t happen behind the play,” Fauchon said. “They’ve got to realize they can’t be doing those things.”

On Saturday the team did get two points from the Legionnaires, but that was mostly on the back of goaltender Lance Alm’s performance. Alm stopped 46 of 47 shots the get the AAA Stars their first win of the season.

“I thought [Alm] came back strong yesterday,” Fauchon said, referring to Alm’s seasoning opening performance on Thursday when he was pulled after allowing five goals on 32 shots. “There were some opportunities [on Saturday] where I thought Swift would bury it and Lance was able to come across and make that big save and hold us in the game.”

Alm didn’t start on Sunday because it was a back to back, but backup Joseph Young looked solid on Sunday, making 28 saves on 31 shots.

Still, the Legionnaires found the back of the net three times on Sunday, after only beating Alm once on Saturday.

“Sometimes a goaltender beats you and I thought that was the case yesterday,” Legionnaires head coach Darren Evjen said after Sunday’s win. “Even though we lost yesterday, we thought we played very well and we played good again today. We’ve just got to keep making steps.”

The AAA Stars season record is now 1-3-0, which has them in tenth out of 12 teams.

They will now have almost two weeks off because of Thanksgiving, as their next game isn’t until Saturday, Oct. 15 at home against the Moose Jaw Generals.

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