By Nathan Kanter

AAA Sharks opening weekend better than scores suggest

Oct 17, 2016 | 5:00 PM

If you look at the online stats from the Battlefords AAA Sharks’ two weekend games, you may come to the conclusion they played poorly in their 3-2 and 4-0 losses and struggled mightily to keep the puck out of their own zone.

The game sheet states the team gave up 50 shots on goal each game and only mustered 29.5 shots per game on their opposition.

But Sharks head coach Gary Berggren knows the score wasn’t indicative of his team’s play. He also knows the shot totals on the game sheet aren’t that accurate.

“In the second game the guy that was doing our stats had us out-shooting them,” Berggren said in a phone interview on Monday. “Fifty shots when you look at it on the board, it looks pretty ugly. But we had them at 32 shots in the second game.”

Berggren isn’t getting nit-picky about what the stats did or didn’t say. He’s just using the numbers to illustrate how well the Sharks played, despite losing both games to Melville.

Fond Memories

North Stars' 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 1

6h ago

Trades in Sask.

Skilled trades need not limited to building homes

Apr 17, 2024

Battlefords Volleyball Club

13U BVC Impact take provincial silver in Warman

Apr 17, 2024

“Obviously losing is not what we wanted to do,” Berggren said. “[But] all in all it was a good weekend. We played a lot better in the second game and … we played a lot better in that first game than we did against [Prince Albert] in our exhibition game so just getting better every game is a good sign with this group.

“We’re making a few mistakes that younger teams make. We’re losing battles around our own net and making poor changes … and they ended up resulting in goals,” he said.

In the 4-0 loss, most of the goals came because Melville capitalized on the Sharks’ mental errors.

One was a miscommunication on a Sharks power play that resulted in a shorthanded goal, two others were on breakaways because of bad line changes, and the fourth was on a scramble in front of the net.

“Having a young team and not winning in the first few games of the season is not really that concerning to me,” Berggren said. “I want to be winning games in February and March so that’s kind of our goal. We’re working towards getting better every game and so far that’s been the case.”

Whether the shots against truly were 50 or not, goaltending was also excellent for Battlefords in both games.

Chantel Weller played in Saturday’s loss and Chloe Burt played in Sunday’s.

“Both goalies were incredible,” Berggren said. “They made some incredible saves and really did keep us in the game when we needed a save so it was really good to see that.”

The Sharks only have two nights off now before traveling to take on the P.A. Northern Bears on Wednesday night.

The Northern Bears beat the Sharks 6-1 in an exhibition game on Sept. 30.

“We owe them one,” Berggren joked. “We’re going to have to match their speed and just be physical with them.”

He said physicality has been the biggest adjustment for his younger players, who may not be used to the AAA level yet.

“It’s a big step up in the physical area compared to what they’ve played in previous years, so that’s one thing that we really want to keep pushing,” he said. “Especially around our net.”

Weller will get the start in Wednesday’s game, which is set for 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Center.

The Northern Bears are 0-1-2-0 so far this season, which is fifth in the nine-team league because regulation wins count for three points and overtime wins for just two.

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