To say the frustration is setting in for the Battlefords Midget Stars may be an understatement. The Stars lost their fifth straight Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League game Wednesday night as they hosted the Beardy's Blackhawks.
It was a rough start for the Stars, as goaltender Nigel Rempel was handcuffed with a long shot. He bobbled the puck and eventually left it in the crease for Braden Oleksyn to tap into the empty net during a 4-on-4 situation 1:30 into the game.
Also in the first period, the Stars were plagued by penalties taking 12 minutes in minor penalties.
Later in the first, Elliot Peterson took a pass from Brett Boehm on a 2-on-1, also while the teams were playing 4-on-4 and beat Rempel.
The first period ended with the Blackhawks up 2-0 and outshooting the Stars 14-6.
After killing off six shorthanded situations in the first period, the Stars couldn't gather the momentum as Beardy's did a great job blocking shots and controlling the speed on the game the rest of the way.
Less than three minutes into the second, and on a power play, Beardy's got a lucky break as Evan Zdunich wristed a point shot that was heading wide of the net. The puck hit an unsuspecting Stars' defenceman and ricocheted behind Rempel.
Later in the second, the Blackhawks scored their first 5-on-5 goal, as Landon Robin wristed a shot off the post putting the Blackhawk's up 4-0.
The penalty trend continued in the third period, as one stoppage of play saw 19 minutes of penalties and a game misconduct that resulted in the Stars receiving a seven-minute power play.
A minute into the power play, the Stars pulled Rempel to make it six attackers against four, but that was to no avail. The Blackhawks' Boehm scored in the empty net to seal the 5-0 win.
Rempel stopped 31 of 35 shots while the former Stars' goalie Regan Santoro earned the 29-save shutout. Ironically, the last time Santoro earned a shutout was year ago, Oct. 7, 2010, as he shutout Beardy's as a member of the Stars.
Beardy's moved into first place in the SMAAAHL with a 4-1-0-0 record while the Stars fall to 0-5-0-0.
The Blackhawks were 1/13 on the power play while the Stars were 0/9.
The next action for the Stars will be Friday in Saskatoon against the Blazers, then after Thanksgiving weekend off, they return to action Wednesday at home to the Prince Albert Mintos who are 2-1-0-0 this season.
