The Stars next games are this Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 24 at 2:00 p.m. at the Access Communication Centre. (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Mid Season Update

AAA Stars grab big win over Blazers in Red Pheasant

Nov 21, 2024 | 1:53 PM

It’s almost the midway point of the season for the Battlefords AAA Stars and not only did the team get a big 3-2 shootout win yesterday against the Saskatoon Blazers, they did it in front of a huge crowd at Red Pheasant Arena on Red Pheasant Cree Nation.

“We connected with Vince Sauvie, who is an alumni player of ours and he’s with recreation at Red Pheasant and they did a great job of hosting both us and the Blazers last night. There were a lot of young children there and the Blazers had white towels for every kid to have the wave in the stands. So it was awesome and I think a lot of the young kids were really inspired.” said Stars head coach, Dale Grayston.

Ceremonial puck drop by Vince Sauvie and Chief Cody Benson at the Red Pheasant Arena this past weekend. (Naomi Hope/Naomi’s Photography)

After the win, the Stars improved to 5-13-0 (W-L-OTL) on the season and 10th overall in the league, and still have high hopes for the rest of the season.

“I think we’re getting on a better run here. We’ve got a lot of rookies on our team and they’re starting to catch on to the details we need and it resulted in a really big win for us last night. Pretty much every game this season comes down to just a few mistakes, but the compete level of the players is definitely there, they never give up. So hopefully we can see the team do a little better here going into the rest of the season.” Grayston said.

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This season, the Stars have had some very close games that could’ve gone either way, losing a total of seven games by only one goal.

One of the biggest challenges that the Stars have faced compared to some of the top teams in the league this season is the number of veterans on the squad, and with some injuries, the number is only getting lower.

“We lost one of our veteran forwards, so we started the season with three veteran forwards, two veteran defencemen and one veteran goalie. It doesn’t matter what league you’re in, your vets are important, and it takes a while for the rookies to get used to the game. Now, we have injuries to some of the vets and we’re with two veteran forwards and everyone else behind is a rookie.” Said Grayston.

This weekend, the Stars are back at the Access Communication Centre to take on the Tisdale Trojans in back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday. This will be two big games for the Stars as Tisdale is only 7 points ahead of the Stars and the results could make a big difference in the standings.

Despite the current record and shortened roster, the team isn’t keeping their heads down and still has playoffs and the championship on their mind.

“We believe that we’ve got one of the more competitive teams in the league. Top to bottom. I don’t think our record so far is related to how much our guys will compete. We expect to challenge for the championship every year, but it takes a little bit of time to get everybody to play the right way. Our secondary goal is to make playoffs and then we’ll just see how much better we’ve gotten by then.” Grayston said.

Puck drop for the games this weekend is 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23 and then 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 24.

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austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes