Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

North Stars drop second straight game in Weyburn

Oct 15, 2016 | 8:55 AM

For the first time this season, the North Stars have lost two games in a row.

On Friday, they lost 4-3 to the Weyburn Red Wings, following their 4-2 loss to Notre Dame the night before.

“There were positives to draw from [today] but obviously it was a tough one for us,” associate coach Braeden Johnson said following the loss. “From the defensive standpoint, I think we got beat 1-on-1 quite a bit. We’re not playing smart. We’re working hard and now we have to incorporate thinking into the game.”

Weyburn continually created offence off the rush on Friday, including on their first goal of the game from winger Nathan Gelsinger when he finished off a pretty passing play in the first period.

If not for North Stars goaltender Joel Gryzbowski, the score certainly could have been much worse because of all the odd-man rushes the Red Wings generated. At one point, they had a 2-on-0 and Gryzbowski came up with an unbelievable glove save while going post to post.

Johnson said the North Stars need to work together as a unit of five to limit the odd-man rushes.

“The way to eliminate those is by stopping and starting and working hard to get back,” he said. “We need our forwards to help our defence and we need our defence to help our forwards.

“It starts with us. When we have the puck and we can’t get it past their blue line and it’s a turnover, we’ve got to stop and start. I’m not too concerned about the turnovers but it’s what you do after that.”

Odd-man rushes were clearly the reason for the North Stars’ defensive struggles, while offensively it seemed they took too long them to find their rhythm.

Midway through the third period, while trailing 4-2, a light seemed to go on in the Stars’ forwards and they re-mounted their offensive.

Coby Downs landed a lucky bounce as his snap shot hit a stick right in front of him and completely changed pace, throwing off goaltender Hargrave who had already committed to the initial shot. The puck completely slowed down and bounced into the corner of the net, leaving Hargrave dumbfounded.

Downs’ goal made it 4-3 for Weyburn with six minutes left but it was simply too late in the game for the North Stars’ offensive to gain momentum.

Pulling the goalie for a last minute goal didn’t produce any results.

“[Slow starts] are a challenge that we have in front of us … and we’re going to attack it head on,” Johnson said. “The leadership in that room is second to none. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’ll figure it out and come together. Our lineup is a skilled one but in this league it’s hard to win.”

One offensive area the North Stars coaching staff isn’t seeing enough of is getting bodies to the net and setting screens.

“I don’t think we’re quite tough enough in their end or getting to the dirty areas,” Johnson said. “Any time you look at any hockey, that’s where goals are scored and right now obviously our offence is lacking. But again were going to work together as a team to kind of figure it out and we’ll be fine.”

Scoring the other two goals for the North Stars on Friday were Logan Nachtegaele, who had a beautiful wrist shot sail into the top left corner in the first, and Keaton Holinaty, who had a backhander from the high slot bounce through multiple bodies and slide by Hargrave.

Due to what coach Nate Bedford considered minor upper body injuries, Reed Delainey and Troy Gerein didn’t play.

The team will look to get back into the win column on Saturday in Estevan against the Bruins.

The Ultra Print pre-game show gets underway at 7:15 p.m. on 93.3 the Rock. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.

 

 

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