It is clear the Battlefords North Stars players still have a lot of work ahead of them before the regular season begins.
Three straight preseason losses — two against the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs and one against their SJHL rivals the Kindersley Klippers — were a hard dose of reality for head coach Brayden Klimosko and the team.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Klimosko. “I think our eyes got wide open … we’ve got to be better in a lot of situations. Yeah, it’s a work in progress. That’s why it’s preseason for a reason. We’ve got to be a lot better in a lot of areas.”
The games saw the North Stars drop two to Bonnyville by 4-2 and 7-3 scores, and then they lost Monday to Kindersley 3-0.
In terms of what the team needed to work on, “honestly, I think it’s everything,” said Klimosko.
“I think it’s as simple as the fundamentals — passing, skating, shooting. That’s where we’ve got to start and go from there.”
He pledged to address those areas in the first practice this week.
There are some tough decisions for the coaching staff to make in the coming days. It is expected the final roster will be in place by next Monday, after the two home contests for the North Stars against La Ronge Ice Wolves Friday night and Saturday afternoon to wrap up preseason play.
In all, it has been a hectic several days for the hockey club, one that Klimosko said was “a good week” despite what the scoreboards have said recently.
Training camp for the North Stars opened last Tuesday at the Civic Centre and continued for the rest of the week, with several intra-squad contests to evaluate both the returning talent and prospects on hand.
“The guys have been working hard, we’ve been here since Tuesday, so it’s been a full week now. So now it’s more of a regular routine,” said Klimosko.
Closing out training camp was the annual Black-White game Friday night, won by the White team by a 3-2 final score on a goal by Mattias Urbanski late in the third period.
The North Stars then hit the road for their first pre-season game Saturday night against the Bonnyville Pontiacs. The game was at Frog Lake First Nation, Alta., where the Pontiacs has held their training camp for their upcoming AJHL season.
Bonnyville 4 North Stars 2
While it was the first preseason game for the North Stars, the Pontiacs had come off a split of two preseason games against the Lloydminster Bobcats.
The Pontiacs looked sharp early on as they took a 2-0 lead through two periods. While the North Stars played better in the third period the Pontiacs ultimately won the contest 4-2.
A breakaway goal from Adam Becker and a five-on-three goal from Mitchell Bosch were the two North Stars markers in the third period.
Bonnyville 7 North Stars 3
The rematch was the following night back home at the Civic Centre. The first goal was scored early in the first by Dylan Esau from Ryan Gil.
Bonnyville tied it at 1-1 moments later on a goal by Ty Enns. But the North Stars reclaimed the lead on a power play goal by Cody Spagrud with Austin Becker and Braydon Buziak assisting at the 4:30 mark.
But Bonnyville scored two quick goals again near the midway point of the period to make it 3-2. Shots favoured Bonnyville 16-9 through one period.
In the second, Bonnyville added an even strength goal from Daine Dubois and then a Brendon Morrow power play goal at 10:54, to make it 5-2. The North Stars finally got one back with 6:01 left in the period as Tye Scherger scored from Blake Fennig and Luke Fennig. The second period ended with Bonnyville up 5-3. Shots on goal through two periods were 28-21 Bonnyville.
Bonnyville found the back of the net again midway through the third period, with Lucas Thorne scoring at 10:49. Thorne added one more to the Bonnyville total with 5:55 left, to wrap up a 7-3 Bonnyville win to sweep the two games with the North Stars. Final shots favoured the Pontiacs 39-27.
Kindersley 3 North Stars 0
Monday night saw the North Stars host Kindersley Klippers, in a game that featured a lot of rookie and younger players but also some veterans.
The game sped along at a fast clip before the Klippers got the first goal. Devon Cyr scored from Brett Neumeier to make it 1-0 in the first.
The North Stars thought they had scored with 1:31 left in the period, but the Kindersley net was already off its moorings. The ruling was no goal, and the first period ended 1-0 Klippers.
There was no scoring in the second period. The third period saw the North Stars fail to capitalize on chances in front of the Klippers net, and they eventually paid the price for the lost opportunities as Austin Nault’s goal made it 2-0 Klippers.
Kyle Bosch then scored with about five minutes remaining to make it 3-0, and that wrapped up the scoring on the night. The North Stars outshot Kindersley 27-26 but both Justen Close and Zach Johnson slammed the door in net for the Klippers.
Next up for the North Stars are games Friday at 7:30pm and Saturday at 2pm at the Civic Centre versus the La Ronge Ice Wolves. Coach Klimosko indicated a number of roster decisions would be made in the days leading to those games, and afterwards as well.
