The Battlefords North Stars started the season with high expectations and although it is too early to start panicking they are winless through their first four games.
The North Stars played a home-and-home with Melfort Friday and Saturday and after a handful of roster changes that followed the first game the Battlefords still couldn't find a way to win.
Friday in Melfort, the North Stars started with a bang, as Colin Phaneuf was credited with his third goal of the season from linemates Blake Tatchell and Brett Miller.
Justin Bardarson tied the game for Melfort on a rebound off a point shot later in the period, but the North Stars reclaimed the lead two minutes later on a powerplay. Woody Klassen netted his first of the season from Shayne Morrissey and Zach MacLellan.
The North Stars went up 3-1 when Phaneuf scored his second of the game with Tatchell drawing his second assist on the goal.
Just 35 seconds later, Melfort scored to pull within one. Two minutes later, in the final minute of the first period, the Mustangs' Cole Gibson evened the score.
Brody Haygarth scored once in the second and Regan Nabseth added two in the third period and the Mustangs earned their first win of the season 6-3.
Kyle Birch was in net for the Battlefords and made 38 saves in the loss. Charles Corsi was the winning goalie with 30 saves.
Following the game, the North Stars' coaching staff was disappointed with the effort from some guys and three different players drew into the lineup Saturday with Alex Sirard making his second start of the season.
Melfort got out to a quick start thanks to a powerplay goal by Jesse Mireau.
Five minutes later, the North Stars used a powerplay of their own to even the score. Zach MacLellan scored his second of the season with Tatchell and Phaneuf earning the assists.
Later in the first period, Tatchell scored his second of the season on a deflection off a point shot from MacLellan. The play was set up by good work from Miller and Phaneuf along the boards on the powerplay to get the puck back to the defenceman. Klassen also had an assist on the goal.
The next shift, Melfort were looking for the equalizer, but Sirard bailed out his defenceman with a beautiful pad save and the first period ended 2-1 in favour of the home team.
On a powerplay in the second period, Haygarth roofed a backhand on a rebound to tie the game.
Four minutes later, the North Stars scored their third powerplay goal of the game when Klassen blasted a shot by Corsi through traffic. MacLellan and Calder Neufeld had the assists.
The North Stars were pressing later in the second, and forced Melfort's coach Darrell Mann into calling a timeout since his team couldn't change for nearly two minutes due to a couple icings. Following the timeout, Tatchell just missed the top corner on a centering pass from Miller and that was as close as either team would come in the final 10 minutes of the second period.
Seven minutes into the third period, the Mustangs tied the game after a good transition while catching the North Stars on a line change. It was Nabseth backhanding a shot top corner by the glove of Sirard making it 3-3.
Sirard made a good shoulder save at one end and Miller hit the crossbar at the other end, after Tatchell made slick play to go ahead with the faceoff and sent a pass in front to his winger Miller.
After regulation, the game was tied 3-3 with the Mustangs outshooting the North Stars 31-28.
The teams each had a shot on goal in the four-on-four overtime period, but nothing was solved and a shootout was needed.
Miller was the North Stars' first shooter and his shot attempt was stopped. Sirard made a pad save on Gibson, Melfort's first shooter. Corsi made a pad save on Phaneuf and Sirard followed that with a stop of his own. Tatchell was the North Stars' third shooter and after a great deke to the backhand Corsi robbed him. Nabseth was the Mustangs' third shooter and made no mistake as he moved in quickly and fired a shot by Sirard.
"We're close, we're banging on the door. I thought we got some good goaltending tonight, but we just didn't capitalize on our chances and they did," said North Stars' head coach and general manager Ken Pearson.
The North Stars fell to 0-2-1-1 after the shootout loss and the coaching staff wasted no time changing things up. It was made known before the weekend started that two players, who were final cuts from the Swift Current Broncos, would be joining the North Stars.
Defenceman Brody Luhning played 30 games for the Broncos last season and notched an assist and 13 penalty minutes. Robbie Newton is a 1993-born forward, who played with the Saskatoon Contacts in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League last season. Newton had 36 points in 43 games.
"Brody played in the Western League last year and that will certainly help our depth on the backend and Robbie Newton will be a guy who will come and push some of these guys for ice time. He is a big guy, he skates well, he has good hands," said Pearson. "If you can't handle the pressure of guys coming in to take your job away from you obviously you're going to lose your job - if you're worried about your job then you're going to lose it. Our guys need to just go out and play the game and let their games speak for themselves."
The North Stars will be in action Friday at home as they continue to look for their first win of the season when Weyburn visits the Civic Centre.
The coach had one message for his players during the week of practice. "You just want to see some guys competing. Our compete level isn't where it needs to be."
One player the coaching staff has to be happy with is MacLellan, who was named the Sherwood Defenceman of the Week. MacLellan, who played his first four games as a North Star, earned five points in three games last week.
