By Nathan Kanter

Slow start the difference in North Stars loss to Hounds

Oct 14, 2016 | 7:10 AM

The North Stars were behind the eight ball to start their three-game road swing, ultimately falling short 4-2 to the Notre Dame Hounds on Thursday evening.

The game was 3-2 minus an empty netter scored with just one second left on the clock, but it was the slow start that led to the result.

“It took us probably 40 minutes to get ready, maybe 50 minutes,” North Stars head coach Nate Bedford said following the team’s fourth loss of the season. “In this league if you’re not going for the majority of the game, you’re going to be in trouble.”

Indeed, in the second half of the third period, the ice finally began to tilt in the North Stars favour, with them trailing 3-1.

The Hounds were outshot by the North Stars 11-4 in the third.

Fond Memories

North Stars' 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 2

16h ago

Fond Memories

North Stars' 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 1

Apr 18, 2024

Trades in Sask.

Skilled trades need not limited to building homes

Apr 17, 2024

“Obviously we liked our finish. We were really flying there at the end,” Bedford said. “But they played really well.”

Hounds forwards Adam Dawe and Ben Duperreault stood out in particular on the big, international sized ice surface, weaving their way in and out of traffic for much of the night.

Dawe finished with a two-goal night and almost completed the hat trick, while Duperreault notched the game-winner on the power play.

“I thought our ‘PK’ kind of struggled a little bit because we were trying to do things with our sticks instead of our bodies,” Bedford said. “Just because there is big ice doesn’t mean you don’t get in front of shots.”

Bedford mentioned before the game that the bigger ice surface was something the team needed to be aware of. After the game, he felt it impacted the way they played a little bit too much.

“The puck is the same size, and the net is the same size. You’ve just got to move our feet and get into open spots,” he said. “Big ice surface doesn’t mean you change your game plan. We were taking shots from the point, which is almost in a different area code in this rink, and we had no traffic. We had nobody in front and you’re not going to score on goalies in this league.

“When we come back here, the size shouldn’t change the way we approach the game and certainly today it did.”

Hounds goalie Jordan Greenfield-Flemon had a busy second half of the game, stopping 27 of 28 shots in the final 40 minutes, and 36 of 38 overall. His rebound control got better as the game went on.

Scoring the goals for the North Stars were Connor McIntosh and Layne Young.

It was McIntosh’s first career junior-A goal, a rebound in the first period after new North Star Ben Allen chipped the puck by the defenceman in the neutral zone and beat him to it before cutting to the net.

Young’s power play goal gave the North Stars hope with 3:07 left in the third as it brought them to within one, but a Keaton Holinaty penalty with under two to go essentially sealed the team’s fate.

“I thought we were prepared for a bounce back but it didn’t happen,” Bedford said about trailing early in the game. “You can’t enforce yourself on your guys all the time. You can’t be too hard on them. You eventually lose the room. So I was hoping they would find their own way and they did, eventually. I just think we need to find our way a little quicker.”

In the loss, North Stars goalie Taryn Kotchorek made 22 saves on 25 shots.

The North Stars take on the Weyburn Red Wings on Friday night in the second game of the road trip.

NorSask North Stars radio begins at 7:15 p.m. on CJNB/CJNS with the Ultra Print pre-game show.

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