By Nathan Kanter

Sharks drop 2 to top-ranked Stars

Feb 12, 2017 | 4:03 PM

The first place Saskatoon Stars took two games from the Battlefords Sharks in female midget AAA action this weekend at Battleford Arena.

Saturday’s game was a 5-1 win, while the rematch on Sunday was an 11-1 score.

Sharks coach Gary Berggren said the team competed extremely hard on Saturday and didn’t show up on Sunday.

“[Saturday] we probably played the best game we’ve played all year,” Berggren said. “A couple breakdowns and the score ends up 5-1 but we really played well.

“[Today], no effort. Right from the drop of the puck, we got outskated…until the end of the game.”

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It’s been a tough season for the Sharks, who have six wins in 26 games but they are a young team (eight rookies) with promise, particularly on the blueline, where they’ve mostly gone with only four defenceman all year.

Maya Tupper is the only 16-year-old defenceman on the team. Tupper, along with 15-year-old Keera Tiringer and bantam aged Jessie Herner and Tori MacDonald, make up the blueline.

“It hasn’t really been an issue all year [going with four ‘D’,” Berggren said. “They’ve really stepped up and play well. Two of them are bantams and one is a first-year midget so they’re young and they’re going to be very good players in the future. So far this season they have played well.”

On the other side, the Stars also have a young blueline with two bantam aged ‘D’ and two 15-year-old ‘D’ but their forward corps is filled with experience.

Mackenna Parker, Grace Shirley, Anna Leschyshyn – daughter of former NHLer and Stars assistant coach Curtis Leschyshyn – Joella Fiala, and Abby Shirley each bring at least a year of SMFAAAHL experience to the table, many of them two years, and each have over 30 points for Saskatoon this season.

Those five players combined for 10 goals in the two games versus the Sharks: three of the team’s five on Saturday, and seven of the team’s 11 on Sunday.

“They’ve got so much talent on their forward lines,” Berggen said. “Their speed is incredible.

“They’re just an all-around good team.”

Parker, along with defenceman Willow Slobodzian, both from the small town of Clavet, Sask., were on the Canadian national women’s U-18 team that won silver at the world championships last month in the Czech Republic.

For the Sharks, the playoffs are just around the corner, with only two games remaining in the regular season.

They are locked in at the seventh spot and will play either the Prince Albert Northern Bears, the Melville Prairie Fire or the Regina Rebels. Battlefords has gone a combined 0-12 against those three teams this season.

“It’s going to be tough,” We’re probably going to end up playing [Prince Albert] and they’ve kind of had our number but we’re up for the challenge. We need to be physical against them and we need to try to take time and space away from them. Big thing with playing against them is our penalty kill. Our penalty kill has to be way better. They score a lot of power play goals.”

The Sharks final regular season games are next weekend in Swift Current against the Wildcats.

Battlefords has taken one game from them this season, a 4-1 score on Nov. 27.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

@NathanKanter11