Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

AAA Stars shut out on the road

Sep 24, 2016 | 9:46 AM

Getting shut out is never a good way to lose a hockey game but the silver lining for the Battlefords AAA Stars after Friday’s 3-0 loss in Saskatoon is it won’t count in the standings.

The Stars are still in their pre-season.

Plus, four key players weren’t in the lineup on Friday: two because of suspension and two because of injury. Tyson Myers and Logan Spence each received a suspension in Tuesday’s game against the Blazers (one that will also force them to miss the regular season opener), while Donavon Beatty and Connor Nagel each missed Friday’s game due of injury.

“I kind of expected it would be a little bit more of a difficult game because they had their full roster,” Stars head coach Darren Martens said after the game.

But that doesn’t mean the loss can be tossed aside and forgotten about. From a coaching standpoint, the Stars road loss to the Blazers translates into learning opportunities.

“Obviously you never want to lose but this is good learning for us,” Martens said. “Every game is a learning curve for us so it was a good thing for us tonight to see what we can do better at system-wise and performance-wise.”

A huge positive from Friday was goaltender Lance Alm, who is the clear cut starter for this upcoming season. He made 39 saves on 42 shots, including 28 saves in the final 40 minutes to try to keep his side in the game.

“He did very well, I thought, for his first game of the season. He looked really solid,” Martens said. “His mindset right now is to be ready for every game, whether he gets five shots or 55 shots. He’s ready to stop whatever is thrown at him. He’s been working on his mental side.”

It was in the second frame when the Blazers put things out of reach, outshooting the Stars 20-6. They scored four minutes in to push the lead to 2-0 and then converted on a powerplay with less than two minutes remaining in the period to go up by three.

The final shots on goal tally had the Blazers doubling up on Battlefords 42-21.

There’s only one pre-season game left on the schedule, scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 29 at the Civic Centre against the Saskatoon Contacts.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

 

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