One goal.
That's how close the Battlefords AAA Stars were to advancing to the quarter-finals of the Mac's AAA Midget World Invitational Tournament after tying the Calgary Buffaloes 5-5 Monday afternoon.
The Stars finished with a record of 2-1-1 in Calgary, earning five points. They needed a win against the Buffaloes to advance.
The Stars opened the tournament Dec. 26 with a 9-1 loss at the hands of the Finland Under-17 Team. Julius Nättinen led the way for the Finish team with two goals and an assist.
Finland scored four times in the first period. Olli Juolevi, Sami Tavernier, Julius Mattila and Patrik Laine all found the back of the net in the opening period.
The Finish team continued to push in the second period. Nättinen's goal four minutes into the frame ended Battlefords goaltender Ryan Rewerts' night. He made eight saves on 13 shots.
Back-up goaltender Rylan Toth did not fare much better. Nättinen scored his second 20 seconds later to give Finland a 6-0 lead. Petrus Palmu, Laine and Veeti Vainio rounded out the goal scorers for Finland.
Bryce Neufeld scored the lone goal for the Stars two minutes into the third period.
Niko Vikstén made 19 saves on 20 shots to pick up the win for Finland. Rewerts was handed the loss for the Stars. Toth stopped five of the nine shots he faced.
Battlefords continued the round robin Dec. 27 with a 6-5 win against the Lloydminster Baker Hughes Bobcats. Josh Bly was dominant for the Stars, scoring four times.
The Stars opened the scoring midway through the first period when Brandon Lesko beat Bobcats goaltender Dakota Kenyon. Josh LaFramboise scored a power play goal for Battlefords with 3:36 to play in the opening period.
The Bobcats responded quickly in the second. Andrew Koep tallied a power play marker for Lloydminster shortly over a minute into the period. Koep struck again four minutes later, tying the game at two. Bly answered seven minutes into the period, scoring his first goal of the afternoon on the power play.
Lloydminster struck quickly again. Chasetan Braid tallied a power play marker midway through the period. He would score again less than 30 seconds later, giving the Bobcats a 4-3 lead heading into the second intermission.
In the third, Mason Shaw extended the Bobcats' lead to two four minutes into the period. Bly took over the game from there, scoring three straight goals. His final goal came with 1:50 left in the game to give the Stars a 6-5 lead.
Toth stopped 26 shots to pick up the Stars' first win of the tourney. Kenyon made seven saves for Lloydminster in the loss.
Bly's hot stick carried over into Battlefords' next game, an 8-5 win over the South Island Royals Dec. 29. He registered a hat trick and an assist in Battlefords' second win of the tournament.
Bly opened the game's scoring on the power play with 8:51 to go in the first period. The Royals responded with three straight goals. Garnett Roberts beat Rewerts on the power play with 6:49 left in the frame. Jacob Malloch scored 30 seconds later for the Royals. Nick Guiney's unassisted goal came three minutes later and ended Rewerts' evening. Mason Benning scored with 51 seconds left in the period, cutting the Royals' lead to one heading into the first intermission.
The Stars equalized the game early in the second. Alex Pernitsky scored on the power play 47 seconds into the period. Royals goaltender Markus Daly was pulled from the game five minutes into the frame, giving way for affiliate player Linden Marshall.
Kurtis Gamble broke the tie for the Royals on a power play midway through the frame. Battlefords answered with a three-goal streak of their own. LaFramboise started the stretch with 6:32 to go in the period. The Stars scored two straight power play goals shortly after. Layne Young netted his first goal of the tournament with 4:21 left in the frame. Bly added his second of the game on the power play a minute later, giving the Stars a 6-4 lead heading into the third.
Bly earned his hat trick 45 seconds into the final period with an unassisted goal. Logan Nachtegaele added the Stars' eighth goal of the game with 6:15 left to play. Malloch's second goal of the game cut the lead to three, but the Royals did not come any closer.
Toth stopped 14 shots in relief, earning his second win of the tournament. Marshall was saddled with the loss for the Royals, making 23 saves on 28 attempts.
Battlefords looked to clinch a spot in the knockout round with a win over the Calgary Buffaloes. However, the Stars played the Buffaloes to a 5-5 tie. Bly continued his impressive tournament with another hat trick for Battlefords.
The Buffaloes started the game out strong. Matthew Phillips opened the scoring for the Buffalos on the power play eight minutes into the first. Scott Suchan scored 23 seconds later to extend Calgary's lead. Mark Drohan added another goal for the Buffaloes in the period 1:12 later to give Calgary a 3-0 lead heading into the intermission.
In the second, the Buffaloes added another power play goal five minutes into the period, supplied by Adam Berg. Kellian Olson scored two minutes later to put the Buffaloes up 5-0 with one period left.
The Stars came out flying in the third period. Bly got the Stars on the board with over 11 minutes left to play. LaFramboise scored on the power play with eight minutes to go to cut the lead to three. Bly's second goal of the game brought the Stars within two with 5:43 left to play. Troy Gerein cut Calgary's lead to one less than two minutes later. The Stars tied the game on Bly's third goal of the game with 43 seconds left, but it was not enough for Battlefords to advance to the quarter-final.
Rewerts made 20 of 25 saves before being pulled in favour of Toth, who stopped all seven shots. Brandon Butler made 34 saves for the Buffaloes.
Battlefords finished second in their pool, but did not advance due to tiebreakers. The first tiebreaker in the tournament is a team's result against the top team in their pool, which in this case was the team from Finland.
Bly was the team's leading scorer in the tournament with 10 goals and an assist in four games. LaFramboise led the team with six assists, all of which were finished by Bly. LaFramboise also had three goals in the tourney.
Toth earned both wins in the tournament and finished with a goals-against average of 3.86.
Battlefords were without forwards Spencer Bast and Kiefer Hintz. Bast leads the team with 39 points in SMAAAHL play. He was selected to play for Team West for the 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. Hintz missed the tournament due to an injury.
