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AAA Stars split weekend games

Nov 20, 2016 | 5:28 PM

The AAA Stars split two weekend games, losing 6-2 on Sunday at home against the Notre Dame Hounds after winning 4-3 in a shootout against Swift Current on Saturday.

Sunday’s game wasn’t as bad as the score indicated, although the Hounds began to outplay the Stars as the game went on.

“I thought we had a great start on Sunday, especially the first 10 minutes, despite getting home late [from Swift Current Saturday night],” Stars head coach Jean Fauchon said in a phone interview on Monday. “I thought we played well for most of the game when it was 5-on-5. If you look at the stats I think it was a 1-0 game when it’s 5-on-5. Just the special teams came into play there and we weren’t able to keep up with them on special teams.”

The Hounds went 3-for-13 on the man advantage.

Discipline was an issue for the home side more so in the second half of the game, as the Stars took seven minor penalties and two double-minors in the latter two periods.

“A team like Notre Dame is going to make you pay when you’re in [the box] that much,” Fauchon said. “We had to stay out of the box. We didn’t do a good job of that.”

An unlucky bounce in the first put the Stars down 2-0, after the puck took an odd bounce off the zamboni door and landed in the slot where Hounds forward Stanley Cooley put it into the gaping net. The Hounds would go into the intermission up 2-0, while outshooting the Stars 17-11.

“We just told the boys it’s a fluke goal,” Fauchon said, when asked how to respond to an unlucky goal against. “One of the guys mentioned that it happened at the North Stars game a few days ago so it’s just something you’ve got to shake off. You can’t worry abotu things like that that are out of your control and I think they were able to do that for the most part.”

The second period began with a beautiful shorthanded breakaway goal from Hounds rookie Kane Altwasser, who did his best Peter Forsberg impression when he pulled goaltender Joseph Young to one side before sliding it in with one hand on the backhand.

The Hounds would add two more before the period was out to lead 5-0 after 40 minutes. In the third, the teams exchanged a few goals, and the final was 6-2. 

“I liked our work ethic right from the start to finish,” said Hounds head coach Devan Praught after the win. “I thought we kept our heads pretty cool at some times there when the penalties were coming, so I’m proud of our guys.”

Stars forwards Tye Scherger and Connor Nagel each had a breakaway goal in the third.

Jospeh Young stopped 39 of 45 shots in the loss.

On Saturday, Stars goaltender Lance Alm stopped 45 pucks plus two in the shootout en route to a 4-3 win.

“He shut the door when we needed him to,” Fauchon said. “And [he] gave us a chance to win there in the shootout.”

Parker Gavlas, Ian Hillis, and Luke Reid were the goal scorers in regulation, while Adam Beckamn, Gavlas, and Jaden Shewchuk all scored in the shootout.

The Stars found themselves trailing late in the third after a goal from Legionnaires forward Rin Beny, but Gavlas responded by tying it at three in the final minute of play.

“We played well [on Saturday],” Fauchon said. “The boys could have easily said ‘oh, here we go again,’ but they battled back.”

The Stars travel to Prince Albert on Thursday to face the Mintos, who are 7-7-0-1 so far this season.

The Stars record is now 6-10-0-2, which has them in tenth in the league. But the middle of the pack is close, as just seven points separate fifth place from eleventh.

Shutting down Mintos star forward Logan Barlage will be the biggest challenge, as he is second in league scoring with 24 points in 15 games. His 1.6 points-per-game are tied for first.

“If we can shut him down, we’re going to have a good chance of winning against them,” Fauchon said. “It’s a game that we need to win because they’re in that cluster of teams that are all so close there.”

 

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