Tuesday night in Humboldt, the Battlefords North Stars dropped their pre-season finale 8-5 to the Humboldt Broncos.
Justin Buzzeo and Spencer Braaten each scored twice for the Broncos who ended up with eight goals on 25 shots.
The Broncos never trailed, and at one point they led 5-1.
But in the end, the Stars made a game of it. With four of their top forwards sitting in the stands, the Stars younger forwards rose to the occasion and beat last year's MVP Andrew Bodnarchuk five times.
Shayne Morrissey led the way with two goals while Josh Daley, Calder Neufeld and Vince Sauvie added singles.
After the game, Ken Pearson singled out Josh Daley, Calder Neufeld and Shay Neufeld for their effort up front. After a tough weekend on the road, those three had a ton of chances and finally were rewarded for their effort.
The trio of Shayne Morrissey, Tanner Schwab and Tim Rollins also showed spurts of excellence and certainly helped their cause moving forward.
Defensively the Stars struggled. The Humboldt Broncos took advantage of numerous turnovers and odd-man rushes.
Woody Klassen and Cody Folstad were their usual steady selves while Zack MacLellan and Myles Baptiste also had their moments.
Goaltender Garrett Montour struggled too. He surrendered five goals on 17 shots.
Ken Pearson and Blair Atcheynum will begin to further evaluate the current crop of players, and the North Star's roster will be finalized (for the moment at least) during Thursday morning's Kick Off Breakfast at the Civic Center.
The Stars have their home-opener on Saturday night at 7:30 against Kindersley.
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Now for the personal reaction:
The pre-season is over, and for the Battlefords North Stars it's likely a welcomed relief. Record-wise a 1-5-0-1 record is nothing to write home about, but again once the dust settles, the coaching staff have no doubt discovered who can play and who can't.
Offensively it was great to see Daley and the Neufelds breakout. It's been an up-and-down pre-season for all three, but they're on the right track. I love Calder's agressiveness, Shay's poise and Daley's natural offensive instincts.
The line up of Tanner Schwab, Shayne Morrissey and Tim Rollins has some real potential as well. Shayne Morrissey prooved that he can handle a bit of physicality and pressure. He can also boast about scoring twice on rhe defending MVP of the league.
Nathan Tomac was his steady self, and I thought Kyle Hall showed lots of hustle.
Defensively the Stars have some work to do. The forwards need to quit cheating so much and help contain the oposition. The forwards had a real tough time tonight 'bearing down' and clearing the zone.Too many defensive turnovers from the forwards.
The defenders need to play a smarter and more simple game. Tonight there were way too many situations where the D got caught flat-footed and most teams in this league will make you pay for surrendering odd-man rushes.
As for goaltending - It's hard to feel confident about Saturday knowing that both Kyle Birch (suspension) and Graham Hildebrand (injury) aren't able to play. It would be different if the Stars were more composed defensively, but right now that's simply not the case.
All of that being said - The Stars and their fans have a LOT to be excited about heading into the 2010-2011 season. This team is going to score a TON this year, and once the collective team defence improves, all will be fine.
If Ken Pearson has taught us anything in two years, it is that he's not afraid to make changes. Call it a hunch, but I can't help but feel like change is iminent.
I hope everybody can make it to the kick-off breakfast on Thursday. I can't wait for the season to truly start.
As for the call on the radio, it felt good for the most-part. Thanks for bearing with me as I sifted through a few cob-webs. It felt great to be back in my element again, and it goes without saying that I can't wait to paint the verbal picture for everyone in 2010-2011.
More writing tomorrow. Goodnight.
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12 comments:
Your the best in the biz "DanO"
Keep up the great work and the great blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How did Vince look? The kid has natural scoring ability. I remember seeing him last year and in that game he had 5 pts against Tri Town. Hes good, but will the stars keep him??
Re: Anonymous - Thanks!
Re: Stars123 - Vince looked okay. He's definitely got some skill, and was able to chip in offensively with a goal. In my opinion he deserves maybe another look or two, but unfortunately he may be on the wrong side of a numbers game. Cuts are coming down the pipe today, so all will be revealed before too long.
The line of Tanner Schwab, Shayne Morrissey and Tim Rollins, no veteran players on that line last night? Did any of the other lines have veterin players?
Re: Anonymous
Yes. Josh Daley and Shay Neufeld played with Calder Neufeld.
Nathan Tomac played with Vince Sauvie and Cody Antos.
Boyd Wakelin played with Derek Pfisterer and Kyle Hall.
Listened to the game and it sounded like a couple of lines are getting some chemistry. Neufeld, Daley, Nuefeld and Schwab, Morrisey, Rollins.
Add in Phaneuf, Tatchell, Miller and we should be able to put the puck in the net,
Hope we can keep it out.
Go Stars Go!
When will Ken be making a decision about the goaltending? As much as I think everyone wants to see both guys come back this year, it's not fair to ask two starter goalies to sit on the bench half of the year.
I noticed that the Schwab,Morrissey & Rollins line was the only line with no vet player on it. It certainly sounded as if they did well for 3 rookies.
Hey who's the feather ruffler on the goaltending situation?!! If they don't mind sharing the position why wouldn't you want to keep 2 starters!! At least wait until the deadline to make a deciaion like that.
If you want a championship team you sometimes have to sacrifice some things. You look at Laronge last year they had 2 starters. Goaltending is a very important part of the game. If you have 2 guys that have a great relationship and are willing to alternate games why not?? Also with Vince, if hes as good as I think he is, Ken could always put him on a Junior B card and it wouldnt count against the 25 man roster. A first year 80 point scorer on a last place team doesnt come around often for nothing. When Humboldt won it those years Brockman stuck a few of his guys on Junior B cards.
Why is everyone assuming these two guys are willing to split the time? This is Birch's last year in the league, there's no way he's thrilled about only playing half of the games. And with the stellar year Hildy had last year, I doubt he'll want to split the time either. Both guys are good enough to start every night, and they should start every night.
Championship teams are built from the goaltender out. Both these guys are needed on this team to have any chance of winning it all. I tink they are perfectly happy sharing playing time and having a chance to win it all. If it does not look like they can do it come christmas birch will be traded.
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