The Battlefords Stars were back home Wednesday night for a marquee match up in Saskatchewan Midget AAA league play.
It turned out to be a penalty-filled, at times chippy, but ultimately close and exciting contest, but the Stars ended up on the wrong end of a 5-3 final score to the second-overall Tisdale Trojans.
The Stars were hoping to get back on the winning track after losing 6-1 to Prince Albert last Thursday.
They had some chances early on against the Trojans' netminder Justen Close, and seemed to have the early jump on their opponents in the first period at the Civic Centre.
But the Stars took the first penalty of the game, a cross checking call to Troy Gerein at 8:12, which was quickly nullified by a hooking penalty six seconds later to Kalem Zary of Tisdale.
With just seconds left on that 4-on-4 situation, the Stars' Connor Manegre was then called for checking from behind and a game misconduct with 9:54 left in the first, with Kyle Salaway serving the penalty.
The Stars were in survival mode from that moment on as Tisdale swarmed the Stars' end of the ice. A shot fired by Drew Warkentine finally beat netminder Brett Pongracz to make it 1-0 Trojans at 10:35. Zary and Josh McDougall assisted.
But then the Trojans ran into penalty trouble of their own. A Stars power play followed but fizzled out, and then at 15:12 Warkentine went off for a head-contact penalty.
The Stars took full advantage of that latter power play as Layne Young fired the puck past Close and into the net, with Brandon Lesko assisting to make it 1-1 at 15:57. It was Young’s 29th goal of the season.
But with 24 seconds left McDougall from Parker McCormick gave Tisdale the lead again at 2-1 and that wrapped up the first period scoring.
Shots were 12-11 Stars after one.
In the second period a shot from Spencer Bast early on was stopped, as the teams went back and forth in the first few minutes of the period. A penalty to Zary for slashing put the Stars back on the power play at 1:33 but they were unable to capitalize.
A penalty to Tyler Baier at 6:49 for head contact put the Stars behind the eight ball again as McCormick caught the rebound from Pongracz's initial save, and fired it in to make it 3-1 at the 7:34 mark. Zary and McDougall assisted.
The Stars' penalty problems continued as Kaelan Holt went off for tripping and then Gerein went off for slashing, which led to a brief two-man advantage for Tisdale midway through the second. Fortunately the Stars managed to kill off both those penalties.
Nothing came of a Stars power play late in the second, and the period ended with Tisdale seemingly in command with a 3-1 lead, even though the Stars had out shot them 25-21.
The third period began with the Stars and Trojans trading power play opportunities, and trading shots on goal.
Somehow, some way, a shot from Young at 4:56 beat Close and narrowed the score to 3-2, with Lesko assisting. It was Young's 30th of the season.
The two teams traded penalties and the Stars racked up a huge shots advantage, 38-23 at one point. It was on that 38th shot that they finally broke through.
With Warkentine in the box for interference the Stars tied the game with seconds left on the power play opportunity as Jared Hillis got his 11th of the season from Gerein and Braydon Buziak at 10:09.
But when Hillis was called for head contact at 13:36, the Trojans had another power play opportunity and they took advantage as they stormed the Stars' end of the ice.
A shot by Tanner Nagel hit the post, but the rebound eventually made its way to Wyatt Riendeau.
And he put it in the net at 15:23 to give the Trojans a 4-3 lead. Nagel and Caleb Seaman had the assists.
With time ticking down and the Stars forced to pull Pongracz for the extra attacker, a late penalty to Gerein for high sticking sealed their fate. An empty netter by Seaman with 22 seconds left made it a 5-3 final score for Tisdale.
It was a waste of what was a tremendous effort offensively for the Stars. The final shot count was 42-29 for the Stars.
Tisdale now moves to 33-6-0-3 on the season while the Stars have dropped to fifth at 25-14-0-1. They head to Notre Dame for games against the Hounds and Argos this weekend, followed by another road game in Saskatoon against the Contracts next week.
The final AAA Stars next home game is not until Feb. 28 against the Argos, with the Stars hoping to fill the stands for that final home game at the Civic Centre before the playoffs begin. The Battlefords Stars were back home Wednesday night for a marquee match up in Saskatchewan Midget AAA league play.
It turned out to be a penalty-filled, at times chippy, but ultimately close and exciting contest, but the Stars ended up on the wrong end of a 5-3 final score to the second-overall Tisdale Trojans.
The Stars were hoping to get back on the winning track after losing 6-1 to Prince Albert last Thursday.
They had some chances early on against the Trojans' netminder Justen Close, and seemed to have the early jump on their opponents in the first period at the Civic Centre.
But the Stars took the first penalty of the game, a cross checking call to Troy Gerein at 8:12, which was quickly nullified by a hooking penalty six seconds later to Kalem Zary of Tisdale.
With just seconds left on that 4-on-4 situation, the Stars' Connor Manegre was then called for checking from behind and a game misconduct with 9:54 left in the first, with Kyle Salaway serving the penalty.
The Stars were in survival mode from that moment on as Tisdale swarmed the Stars' end of the ice. A shot fired by Drew Warkentine finally beat netminder Brett Pongracz to make it 1-0 Trojans at 10:35. Zary and Josh McDougall assisted.
But then the Trojans ran into penalty trouble of their own. A Stars power play followed but fizzled out, and then at 15:12 Warkentine went off for a head-contact penalty.
The Stars took full advantage of that latter power play as Layne Young fired the puck past Close and into the net, with Brandon Lesko assisting to make it 1-1 at 15:57. It was Young’s 29th goal of the season.
But with 24 seconds left McDougall from Parker McCormick gave Tisdale the lead again at 2-1 and that wrapped up the first period scoring.
Shots were 12-11 Stars after one.
In the second period a shot from Spencer Bast early on was stopped, as the teams went back and forth in the first few minutes of the period. A penalty to Zary for slashing put the Stars back on the power play at 1:33 but they were unable to capitalize.
A penalty to Tyler Byer at 6:49 for head contact put the Stars behind the eight ball again as McCormick caught the rebound from Pongracz's initial save, and fired it in to make it 3-1 at the 7:34 mark. Zary and McDougall assisted.
The Stars' penalty problems continued as Kaelan Holt went off for tripping and then Gerein went off for slashing, which led to a brief two-man advantage for Tisdale midway through the second. Fortunately the Stars managed to kill off both those penalties.
Nothing came of a Stars power play late in the second, and the period ended with Tisdale seemingly in command with a 3-1 lead, even though the Stars had out shot them 25-21.
The third period began with the Stars and Trojans trading power play opportunities, and trading shots on goal.
Somehow, some way, a shot from Young at 4:56 beat Close and narrowed the score to 3-2, with Lesko assisting. It was Young's 30th of the season.
The two teams traded penalties and the Stars racked up a huge shots advantage, 38-23 at one point. It was on that 38th shot that they finally broke through.
With Warkertine in the box for interference the Stars tied the game with seconds left on the power play opportunity as Jared Hillis got his 11th of the season from Gerein and Braydon Buziak at 10:09.
But when Hillis was called for head contact at 13:36, the Trojans had another power play opportunity and they took advantage as they stormed the Stars' end of the ice.
A shot by Tanner Nagel hit the post, but the rebound eventually made its way to Wyatt Riendeau.
And he put it in the net at 15:23 to give the Trojans a 4-3 lead. Nagel and Caleb Seaman had the assists.
With time ticking down and the Stars forced to pull Pongracz for the extra attacker, a late penalty to Gerein for high sticking sealed their fate. An empty netter by Seaman with 22 seconds left made it a 5-3 final score for Tisdale.
It was a waste of what was a tremendous effort offensively for the Stars. The final shot count was 42-29 for the Stars.
Tisdale now moves to 33-6-0-3 on the season while the Stars have dropped to fifth at 25-14-0-1. They head to Notre Dame for games against the Hounds and Argos this weekend, followed by another road game in Saskatoon against the Contracts next week.
The final AAA Stars next home game is not until Feb. 28 against the Argos, with the Stars hoping to fill the stands for that final home game at the Civic Centre before the playoffs begin.
