By Nathan Kanter

AAA Sharks make history over weekend with goal explosion

Nov 14, 2016 | 4:00 PM

There were two firsts in franchise history this past weekend for the Battlefords AAA Sharks.

Their eight-goal output against the Weyburn Southern Range Gold Wings on Sunday, Nov. 13 was the most ever, while the six-goal margin from the 8-2 win was also the biggest margin the team has ever recorded.

The Sharks landed their first two wins of the young season against the Gold Wings, also winning 3-2 on Saturday.

Though they lost their first seven games, Sharks head coach Gary Berggren said they didn’t change up their tactics to get the win.

“Actually we were doing a lot of the same things that we’ve been doing all year. It’s just we had a little bit of luck around the net and once they started going in, they started really going in,” he said. “Having two firsts like that was really good for the organization and for our team. It just goes to show how good this team could be in the future.”

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Their 11-goal output in the two games equaled their entire offensive output from the first seven games of the year.

Leading the way offensively for the Sharks were forwards Ensley Fendelet and Ashlee Wolfe, each with two goals and two assists over both games. Ali Aitken, Kyra Ledoux, Alyssa Roach, and Maya Tupper also chipped in with three points each.

Berggren said sticking with their game plan was a little tough but was bolstered by good leadership.

“It’s all about … the older players showing the younger ones that you can’t give up and you’ve got to keep going,” Berggren said. “And just showing them that it will come if you keep working hard and keep doing everything right.”

Both a positive and a negative from the wins was the third period effort. In Saturday’s close game, the effort dropped off when the Sharks got themselves a lead, which was a bit worrying.

But in Sunday’s win their momentum completely changed.

“The effort in the second game was considerably better as a whole,” Berggren added. “I thought our effort in the first game in the third period wasn’t as good as I would have liked. I think that once we got up a couple goals we kind of started to slack off a little bit in the third period but it was nice when the girls were challenged in the second game that they really came out and worked hard for the full 60 minutes.”

The power play was killer on Sunday and a big reason the team lit the lamp so often, going 4-for-10. On Saturday the man advantage was a decent 1-for-5.

Defensively, Berggren said it was a full team effort and not just the blue line who stepped up.

“The forwards were really working hard and back checking hard so it was a lot of team defence instead of just our defencemen playing well,” he said. “It was nice to see everybody playing well defensively.”

The Sharks have a week off before they host the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats on Nov. 26 and 27. Swift Current has only played seven games this season and is an impressive 4-1-0-2.

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