With two of the top offensive threats in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League in Adam Beckman and Ty Mossiman on their roster, it’s not often that the Battlefords Stars find themselves held off of the scoreboard.
That’s what happened Wednesday night at the Civic Centre, however, as the Stars came out on the losing end of a tightly contested 2-0 battle against the Prince Albert Mintos.
“For a team that’s in ninth spot in the standings and going up against one of the top teams in the league, I thought we played really well,” Stars head coach Norm Johnston said. “We had a number of scoring chances, but we just couldn’t put the puck into the back of the net.
“Their coach [Ken Morrison] came over afterwards and told us how impressed he was with how we played. He’s a very competitive guy so that says a lot about how we did tonight, even if we didn’t score a goal.”
Battlefords North Stars prospect Cale Elder stopped all 30 shots he faced for the Mintos, who sit in third place in the standings with a 28-7-1-2 record.
Kade McMillen and Josh Pillar both found the back of the net for the visitors, who fired 30 shots on goal at Stars netminder Joseph Young.
“I know it’s late in the season and we only have seven games left, but the buy-in process is coming along here for our guys,” Johnston said.
“We saw it in the game against Swift Current last week, even though we lost 7-4, and we saw it again here against Prince Albert. We stayed out of the penalty box and we played well in our own end of the ice.”
Following this weekend’s slate of games, the 14-22-1-0 Stars find themselves three points back of the 14-20-3-1 Saskatoon Contacts and having a game in a hand over them in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the SMAAAHL.
The Beardy’s Blackhawks are four points out of a post-season berth with a 12-21-2-2 record and also have a game in hand on the Contacts.
They will head out on the road to play the Saskatoon Contacts Tuesday night before a pair of games in Yorkton against the Maulers on Saturday and Sunday.
They’ll return to the Civic Centre for their home regular season finale on Tuesday, Feb. 13 against the Blackhawks.
After a visit to the Art Hauser Centre on Thursday, Feb. 15 to play the Mintos, the Stars will wrap up their regular season with a pair of contests against the Moose Jaw Generals on Saturday, Feb. 17 and Sunday, Feb. 18.
“The guys are closer now than they have been all winter to how we want them to play,” Johnston said. “If we can keep this up on the road and stay out of the penalty box, we’ll have a shot at the playoffs.”
