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Discipline continues to plague AAA Stars in pair of weekend losses

Oct 17, 2016 | 6:54 AM

On Saturday, not a lot went right for the AAA Stars, as they were shorthanded nine times, outshot 41-23, and lost the game to the Moose Jaw Generals. It was, however, close, thanks to good goaltending as the game ended 1-0 after a shootout.

On Sunday, even less went right for the AAA Stars, as they fell 5-2 to the same Moose Jaw team while taking another nine minor penalties in the process and getting outshot 50-17.

“We’re not competing for 60 minutes and that’s something we’ve been trying to address for the last few weeks here,” AAA Stars head coach Jean Fauchon said following Sunday’s loss. “We need to be able to pick up the intensity.

“We’re showing flashes where we could be good but then we give up. If you give up even a shift in this league, they’re going to make you pay.”

Fauchon said in order to stay out of the box, the team needs to put in a better effort on a more consistent basis.

“When you let up, you’re going to put yourself in a position where you’re going to take bad penalties,” Fauchon said. “Whether it’s hooking or slashing or whatever, [it’s] because you want to reach for the puck because you didn’t take that extra stride.”

Certainly a bright spot for the team has been goaltending, both from Lance Alm and Joseph Young.

Alm, who got a shutout but lost on Saturday 1-0 while stopping 41 shots, is 1-2 this year with a .950 save percentage and 2.28 goals-against-average.

Young, the backup, was peppered with 50 shots on Sunday, making 45 saves.

“We’ve been lucky that our goaltenders have played well,” Fauchon said. “But we can’t continue to allow that many shots on them. Even the best are going to let in a few here and there. You’ve got to cut that down and that just comes from puck management. You can’t be wanting to just dish the puck off all the time and give it away and try to play defence. We’ve got to want to have the puck on our stick.”

With the Generals picking up four points this weekend, they keep pace with the first place Regina Pat Canadians who have 13 points. The Gens have a 5-2-0 record, just three points back.

“Four points on the weekend in this league is always good,” Generals head coach and general manager Ray Wareham said after Sunday’s win. “I thought our guys did a good job with answering the bell [but] there’s some things we’ve got to clean up.”

The AAA Stars meanwhile are now second-to-last in the league at 1-3-0-1 through five games.

They’re next game is a road contest with the Saskatoon Blazers on Wednesday, who the Stars split two pre-season games with in September, winning 2-1 and then losing 3-0.

After that, it’s another weekend at home, where they will take on the Tisdale Trojans on Saturday and Sunday 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.