AAA Stars blow late lead vs. Contacts

“We just over backchecked and didn’t pick up the right guy on the first one,” Smith said. “On the second one, we win the draw fairly clean and then we end up losing the puck along the boards and it’s a shot from a bad angle that hits the back of our goaltender and goes in. It was a lucky one and I thought that that’s kind of how they scored their goals tonight.”

The shots on the night were very even, at 36-34 for Saskatoon.

Many of Battlefords chances came because they didn’t give the Contacts much room in their own end, as the forecheck was working well.

“I think we had them caught in their own end a little bit and had some good pressure,” Smith said. “We got some chances off the forecheck and some chances off the rush.

“Unfortunately it’s a game of little things and it was just little things that broke us down [like] not getting the puck deep, maybe not picking up the right guy on the backcheck.”

Adam Beckman had a goal and an assist for the Stars, while Mackenzie Donovan and Tye Scherger had a goal each.

Beckman, a rookie from Saskatoon who is a Spokane Chiefs draft pick, now has 34 points in 36 games, which is 15th in the entire league and leads the team.

“He keeps his feet moving all the time and he keeps the other team second guessing,” Smith said. “He doesn’t do the same move all the time. When you’re moving your feet and you’re shifty and you can move so good laterally, you’re going to cause the to other team a little bit of havoc.”

Connor Zary had two goals for the Contacts, and Chance Adrian led all players with three points.

The Stars now fall to 14-20-0-2 this season, which is still good enough for 10th and is one point out of 8th.

Their next game is Thursday, Feb. 2 in Prince Albert against the Mintos.

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

by Nathan Kanter

AAA Stars blow late lead vs. Contacts

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