Battlefords AAA Stars netminder Lance Alm was a busy man this week as he started all three games for his team.
After helping the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League side pick up four out of a possible six points, he can see the progress the squad is starting to make after some rough outings to start the season.
“We have a lot of talent on this team and we’re seeing more guys starting to contribute out there,” Alm said. “I think you’re really going to see this team take off here in the next little bit.
“There’s still some room for improvement though, especially with our discipline. Emotions can get the best of us sometimes and we need to work on taking smart penalties and not taking selfish ones.”
The AAA Stars improved to 3-4-0-1 on the season Sunday with a 4-3 win over the Tisdale Trojans at the Civic Centre.
That victory came 24 hours after the Stars gave up a 2-0 lead and fell 4-2 to the Trojans.
“I think we all let ourselves down after that first period on Saturday,” Alm said. “We had a two-goal lead and we were already thinking about winning the game instead of taking care of everything else out there.
“After that second period, we got the momentum back on our side in the third and we carried that over into today. It was a matter of doing the little things right, which we didn’t do on Saturday.”
Alm was on his game throughout the weekend, as he made 40 saves to earn game star honours for the Stars on Sunday and matched that total in Saturday’s defeat.
He also made 39 saves over the course of 65 minutes and turned aside five Saskatoon Blazers shooters in a seven-round shootout during a 4-3 road win Wednesday.
“It’s more of a mental game when you face a high amount of shots in multiple games, but that’s something you work hard on during the summer to prepare for that,” Alm said.
“I’m happy with how I’m playing and the guys have been limiting the majority of the shots to the outside, which has been a good thing for me.”
The Stars’ offensive attack was spread out Sunday, as Dysen Rhinehart, Dylan Esau, Adam Beckman and Tye Scherger all solved Trojans netminder Ethan Anders.
Jordan Simoneau had a pair of goals for the visitors while Elliot Grande-Sherbert also found the back of the net.
“You have to give full marks to Battelfords,” Trojans head coach Darrell Mann said. “They worked hard in both games and Alm’s one of the best goaltenders in the league, which he showed on Sunday.
“Even though we had more shots in both games, I thought they outworked and they deserved the split here this weekend. We only have four players back from last year’s team that made it to the finals, so we have a lot of work to do still and there’s a lot of things the younger guys can learn from this weekend.”
Daniel Wasylyshyn and Nolan Kadachuk had a goal and an assist each in Saturday’s win for the Trojans.
Dayton Buchanan and Tyson Meyers both scored for the Stars in the loss.
Parker Gavlas was the hero for the Stars in Wednesday’s win over the Blazers, which marked the first time they had played away from home all season.
Jordan Mish had two assists during regulation while Esau, Meyers and Jaden Shewchuk all found the back of the net.
The Stars will be on the road for the next seven games, starting with a trip to Saskatoon Thursday for a date with the Contacts.
The team will welcome back defenceman Luke Reid to the lineup for that game, after he played with Saskatchewan at the Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup in Calgary last week.
The Warman product had an assist in five games for Saskatchewan, who finished in fourth place after a 4-1 loss to Manitoba in the bronze medal game Sunday.
Alberta won the tournament with a dramatic 3-2 overtime win over British Columbia.
