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Sharks still seek first win after tough weekend vs. Stars

Oct 16, 2017 | 5:00 PM

The early season schedule has not been kind to the AAA Battlefords Sharks.

They began with two straight road weekends against the Melville Prairie Fire and the defending champion Prince Albert Northern Bears. Then this past weekend was their home opener, where they had the pleasure of welcoming the Saskatoon Stars, who lost to the Northern Bears in last year’s finals, but have finished first in the regular season the past three years in a row with a combined 71-9-3-1 record.

Things did not go well this weekend, as the Sharks fell 12-1 and then 6-1 to drop to 0-6 on the season. Despite that, Sharks head coach Gary Berggen said his team had their best weekend yet.

“It’s tough, you lose 12-1 and you think we didn’t show up and we didn’t skate, but our first period [on Saturday] was the best period we’ve played all year,” Berggren said. “I think now we’re at the effort level that we need to be at all season.

“The problem was that this weekend we took way too many penalties and the Stars scored on power plays a lot. That’s their MO. That’s what they do,” he said.

Saskatoon scored seven power play goals in the two games, going 4-for-11 on the man advantage on Saturday and then 3-for-10 on Sunday. The Sharks got in trouble because they were often over aggressive and the refs had no problem calling penalties.

“We tried to play physical, but we just, at times, went over the line and ended up in the penalty box too much,” Berggren said. “[The number of calls] has been the same as last year. It’s just we’re trying to figure out where that line is that we can go on.”

The Sharks power play went 1-for-7 in both games. Berggren admitted it’s frustrating when special teams decide the outcome of games, but he said it’s normal for that to happen.

“That’s the way the league is,” he said. “5-on-5 play, a lot of the teams are fairly even so it comes down to special teams.”

Because of what transpired this weekend, and how important special teams are, penalty kill and power play will be the biggest area of focus for the team in practice this week leading up to a road weekend in Regina.

Other than that, burying down and scoring on opportunities could also go a long way.

“We had some many chances this weekend and just couldn’t score,” Berggren said. “We’re going to work on that. And obviously ‘D’-zone coverage. You get scored on 12 times yesterday and six today, ‘D’-zone coverage definitely needs to be worked on.”

The Sharks two goals this weekend came from Ensley Fendelet and Sydney Rowley.

Battlefords will play the 1-1 Regina Rebels on the road this coming weekend. Both games are scheduled for the afternoon, with Saturday’s game beginning at 2:30 p.m. and Sunday’s starting 12:15 p.m.

 

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11