After a busy five games in eight days stretch that saw a coaching change along the way, the Battleford AAA Stars didn’t have much to show for it in the way of points.
However, despite suffering a fifth straight loss Tuesday in a 1-0 affair against the Prince Albert Mintos, new head coach Norm Johnston was pleased with how the Stars played after a pair of 3-1 defeats at home to the Yorkton Maulers over the weekend.
“I thought it was a great effort from the guys,” Johnston said. “I know that we lost, but that’s the best game and the best three periods since I’ve joined the team.
“We’ve only had two practices together as a group, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how we'll do in Moose Jaw in a few days.”
Tuesday’s home game was a massive improvement from what happened the last time the two teams squared off in Prince Albert last Thursday, when the Mintos cruised to a 9-1 win.
“The biggest difference today was having actual structure to our game, which is something they haven’t had in quite awhile,” Johnston said. “We’ve been working a lot on our defensive zone and offensive zone play, and that's improved a lot, but the only thing we didn’t do was score.
“We had a number of good chances, but the biggest thing for me is that we were able to cut down their scoring chances. They were chasing us at times instead of the other way around.”
Stars netminder Lance Alm had another strong performance as he made 31 saves, with his only blemish coming on a first period goal by Kamloops Blazers prospect Kyrell Sopotyk.
“He’s one of the best goaltenders I’ve seen in a long time,” Johnston said.
“Lance knows the game really well, which is huge. He’s out there talking to the guys and letting them know what to do or what not to do in certain situations.”
Cale Elder turned aside all 30 shots he faced to earn his fourth shutout of the season, with his biggest stop coming in the final minute as he made a stick save on Austin King-Cunningham during a scramble in front of the net.
Although his team picked up their fifth win in a row, Mintos head coach Ken Morrison wasn’t pleased with how his team performed.
“Battlefords was a lot better than they were last week and we didn’t play well at all,” Morrison said.
“We weren’t ready to play and we made a lot of bad passes, so there’s a lot we need to improve on. I was very pleased with how Cale played though, as he was strong from start to finish.”
Heading into Wednesday’s slate of games in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League, the Stars are in 11th place in the standings with 30 points and a 14-24-2 record.
They were three points back of the Saskatoon Blazers for the eighth and final playoff spot, though the Blazers have three games in hand heading into a home game against the Moose Jaw Generals tonight.
The Stars will be on the road for the final time in the regular season this weekend as they’ll take on the Generals.
They will return to the Civic Centre Tuesday to play the Blazers prior to their regular season finale at home next Thursday against the Beardy’s Blackhawks.
