After coming from behind Tuesday night to defeat the Saskatoon Blazers Tuesday, the Battlefords AAA Stars almost pulled off the same feat in their last game of the 2016-17 Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League campaign.
Down 3-0 in the third period to the Beardy’s Blackhawks, the Stars scored twice in the final minutes but couldn’t get any closer as they dropped a 4-2 decision at Civic Centre Thursday evening.
“I thought we had a good effort but it wasn’t quite enough to get the win,” Stars head coach Norm Johnston said. “We made a couple of mistakes that they capitalized on, but it was a close game all the way through.
“Adam (Beckman) missed a breakaway there early on, and it could have been a little bit different story if we had that first goal. We applied a lot of pressure on them late in the game, but it just didn’t happen.”
Dayton Buchanan and Mackenzie Donovan both scored for the Stars in the loss, while Joseph Young made 33 saves.
Justin Bill led the way for the Blackhawks with two goals, while Austin Bill and Nolan Doell each found the back of the net.
Sheamus McLeod turned aside 31 shots for the visitors, who have a 16-2-1-5 record and are one point back of the Saskatoon Blazers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the SMAAAHL.
The Stars will finish the season in 11th place in the standings with a 15-27-2 record, though they showed a lot of improvement after Johnston came on as the head coach earlier this month.
“Our team play has improved a heck of a lot from when I came here,” Johnston said. “We talked a lot about discipline since I got here and the guys are moving their feet now, so they’ve done a really good job with that part of their game as well.”
When it comes to next season, the Stars will be losing three members of their defence as Parker Gavlas, Donovan Beatty and Michael Puglia are all set to graduate.
Up front, captain Tyson Meyers, Jordan Mish, Connor Nagle, Jaden Shewchuk, Buchanan and Donovan will all age out of the midget ranks.
“They’ll be moving on to higher levels along with some of our younger guys, and it will be good to see them going on to new challenges,” Johnston said.
“It was a rough year but these young guys are all tough and they’ll learn form it. Tyson and the rest of the leadership group did a good job in the room this year of keeping the guys happy through the tough times, and they all worked hard because of it.”
Spokane Chiefs prospect Adam Beckman led the team in scoring this season as the 15-year-old had 41 points in 44 games.
Luke Reid, who committed to the NCAA’s North Dakota Fighting Hawks in January, was the highest-scoring defenceman with 23 points in 39 games.
Lance Alm led the way in goal for the Stars with an 11-20-2 record and a 3.50 goals against average.
