To say the last week was a whirlwind one for the Battlefords AAA Stars would be a bit of understatement.
Not only did they play their first three games of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League season at the Civic Centre, they did so after Jean Fauchon was appointed head coach just three days before the season opener after Darren Martens and the team parted ways.
With a 1-2 record to show from their opening contests, the Stars will now have a valuable two weeks to get on the same page before they host the Moose Jaw Generals on Oct. 15 and 16.
鈥淚t鈥檚 much needed this two-week break,鈥� Fauchon said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be doing a lot of team building at practice every day so that we can become that cohesive unit that we need to be.鈥�
After a lopsided 8-2 loss to the Saskatoon Contacts Thursday, the Stars split a weekend series with the Swift Current Legionnaires.
The hosts prevailed in a 3-1 affair Saturday afternoon, but fell in the rematch Sunday by an identical 3-1 score.
鈥淲e had our points out there where we played well but there were times that we were lacking a bit of intensity and we weren鈥檛 winning the battles to the puck,鈥� Fauchon said.
鈥淲e also had a lot of penalty troubles. When you give the other team eight chances on the power play in both games, they are often going to score.鈥�
Jordan Mish had the lone goal for the Stars on Sunday while the Legionnaires were led on offence by Jake Misskey鈥檚 two-goal performance.
Rin Beny also found the back of the net for the visitors.
Saturday鈥檚 win for the Stars was highlighted by an impressive performance from goaltender Lance Alm, as he turned aside 46 shots to help his team pick up their first victory of the 2016-17 campaign.
鈥淓veryone came in with a positive attitude and took in everything that we learned from our loss to Saskatoon in our first game,鈥� Alm said.
鈥淲e were all prepared and didn鈥檛 take this team lightly. Swift Current is a tenacious team that doesn鈥檛 give up and we were all on the same page from start to finish.鈥�
Adam Beckman, Parker Gavlas and Tyson Myers all scored for the Stars in the win while Beny ruined Alm鈥檚 bid for a shutout in the second period.
Beckman, a fifth round pick by the Spokane Chiefs in May鈥檚 Western Hockey League draft, was a positive light for the Stars in their loss to the Contacts Thursday as he scored a goal and assisted on Austin King Cunningham鈥檚 goal in his Midget AAA debut.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to have a good start, but it鈥檚 always tough when you lose that first game,鈥� Beckman said.
鈥淲e got off to a bad start and I think we came out a little flat as we felt the pressure of this being our home opener. As the game went on though, I felt like we were playing well and we had some positive moments after that bad start.鈥�
The Contacts took control of the game early in the first period as they scored three goals in a 41-second span.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 even tell you what happened there,鈥� Beckman said. 鈥淚t all happened so fast.鈥�
Connor Zary and Dylan Thackeray both had three-point games for the Contacts, who are coming off a trip to last year鈥檚 Telus Cup.
