As the 2017-17 Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League season approached, Battlefords Stars head coach Norm Johnston was enthuasticc about the potential offensive firepower that he felt that the team possessed.
Other than a seven-goal outburst in a 7-3 win on Sept. 30 in Warman against the Notre Dame Argos, that has yet to be the case.
Following a third straight setback Tuesday evening against the Saskatoon Contacts in their home opener, the Stars have scored 11 goals in five games and currently find themselves with a 1-4 record heading into a Saturday night clash at the Civic Centre with the Swift Current Legionnaires.
“I never anticipated the problems that we would have scoring goals when I got here to start the year,” Johnston said. “We’re buzzing around like bees in a beehive trying to get goals right now but it’s not going in.
“A 2-1 game like this one is pretty unusual at the midget level. Usually you see more of the 5-3 scores with the chances each team has. With what we can do, it’s pretty surprising to only have three goals in our last three games.”
Tuesday’s 2-1 loss at home to the Contacts saw the Stars getting outshot by a considerable margin at times, but they were able to have a number of late opportunities to try and tie the game.
“Their goaltender [Rayce Ramsay] was outstanding,” Johnston said. “He made three or four really good saves at the end of the third period, including a couple of huge glove saves on [Dylan] Esau. He did a great job.
“We got into some penalty trouble as a result of being late to the puck and hacking and wacking their guys instead of moving our feet. We had our chances there, but close wasn’t enough.”
The one offensive highlight for the Stars came in the third period, as Adam Beckman scored his first goal of the season in spectacular fashion.
In a play that was similar to a goal scored by Minnesota Wild forward Mikael Granlund at the 2011 World Championships for Finland, the Spokane Chiefs prospect scooped the puck up from behind the net like a lacrosse player, carried it for a few strides and tucked it under the top of the net.
“Adam hasn’t looked as good as he did when I was here at the end of the last season, but this was just his third game and there’s still that hangover after being in the WHL with Spokane,” Johnston said.
“He’s getting better in every game though and we just need to make sure that we give him some more ice time.”
Josh Paulhus and Cohner Saleski both scored for the Contacts, who have a 4-3 record and are two points behind the 5-0 Prince Albert Mintos for first place in the SMAAAHL standings.
“It was a little bit too wide open for our tastes at the end there as we gave up some good scoring chances,” Contacts head coach Marc Chartier said. “If it wasn’t for those saves that Rayce made, we would have been in some trouble for sure.
“I was happy with the performance overall. Obviously you’d like to see a few more goals when you get close to 50 shots on net, but our guys hustled all night long. You have to give a lot of credit to Battlefords as well, as they worked hard and forced us to be at our best.”
The Stars spent their Thanksgiving weekend in Swift Current against the Legionnaires, as they were shut out 4-0 Saturday night before being doubled up 4-2 Sunday afternoon.
“We weren’t good at all on Saturday,” Johnston said. “We were okay the next game against them, but we gave up too many shots once again. That’s something that needs to change.
Ty Mossiman led the way for the Stars Sunday, as he scored a goal and helped to set up a power play marker by Esau.
Kersey Reich, Jacob Piller and Owen Ozar each had a goal and an assist for the Legionnaires, who got their other goal from Jagger Prosofsky.
Piller and Ty Munech had two-point outings to pace the Legionnaires Saturday night, while Ozar and Larson rounded out the scoring and Cody Levesque stopped all 29 shots he faced to earn the shutout.
Joseph Young made 24 saves in Saturday’s defeat and Carter Serhyenko turned aside 30 shots in Sunday’s rematch.
“Our goalies have been great and the defence has been getting better, but it’s the lack of goals that’s worrisome,” Johnston said.
“I thought we’d turn that around against Saskatoon, but we’re going to spend more time here at the rink watching film to get things going in the right direction for our game Saturday against Swift Current.”
The opening puck drop is slated for 7:30 p.m. at the Civic Centre.
