By Nathan Kanter

Amid last minute coaching change, lots of positives for Stars

Sep 27, 2016 | 5:57 PM

The midget AAA Battlefords Stars kick off their regular season on Thursday with a couple of big challenges: one, their head coach just began the job, and two, they’re quite young.

The team lost its top seven scorers from last season, including Owen Lamb and Jayden Nachtegaele to the Battlefords North Stars.

But that shouldn’t temper expectations this season.

The team has a solid returning goaltender in Lance Alm plus a good young foundation up front and on the blueline. Youngsters Adam Beckman and Luke Reid attended Saskatchewan hockey’s U-16 provincial camp this fall and eight Stars players were named to the rosters competing in the two midget AAA games at the SJHL showcase this past weekend.

New head coach Jean Fauchon may have met the players in person just one day ago, but he was a part of the recruiting process, having served as a video and goaltending coach for the past four and a half seasons.

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“I like the team that was assembled,” Fauchon said. “I think we can do a lot with it. I think we can be an aggressive team and a fun team to watch.”

Of the eight players named to the SJHL showcase rosters, only seven actually dressed: Alm, Ian Hillis, Austin King-Cunningham, Matthew Flodell, Jordan Mish, Connor Nagel and Jaden Shewchuk.

Goaltender Lance Alm played for team grey in the 2000 born game, as did Hillis, while defenceman King-Cunningham and forward Flodell suited up for team blue in the same game. Alm allowed one goal on 10 shots faced in 30 minutes of work.

In the 1999 born game, Mish dressed for team red, while Nagel and Shewchuk dressed for team black. Shewchuk had a goal and an assist in his side’s 5-2 win.

As the season quickly approaches, it will be interesting to see how quickly Fauchon can get the team up to speed and who will step up.

“It’s going to be new to me,” Fauchon said. “[Tuesday] will be the first practice on ice and we’ll get to see what we’ve got and what we’re working with.”

Stars chairperson Bruce Yockey said one thing that will help Fauchon is that assistant coach Lee Ulmer has been with the team for almost two months.

Ulmer has “been there right from the beginning [of training camp],” Yockey said. “We play Thursday, Saturday [and] Sunday but then we get a break. We have just about a two-week break there so we’ll work hard to do the best we can to get through these first three games  and then it will be a really good opportunity for Jean to really lay down the foundation for what he would like to do this year.”

Last year, the North Stars finished the regular season with a 20-20-4 record and then were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Regina Pat Canadians.

Battlefords begin 2016-17 at home on Thursday against the Saskatoon Contacts, a team that went 19-23-2 last season. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Civic Centre.

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.