Anytime a hockey team returns from a three-day road trip without a win it isn't exactly a positive thing, but in the case of with the Battlefords North Stars' recent road trip to Dauphin, Man. and Yorkton, there were a few positives.
One is that those games were exhibition. The second thing is that the North Stars' coaching staff had an opportunity to watch their players away from their home rink and do some major evaluating of what the roster could look like.
"We were real happy with the way the weekend went," said North Stars head coach and general manager Ken Pearson. "Some guys played real well while others didn't."
Friday, the North Stars played the Dauphin Kings and, after one period, the North Stars trailed 2-1. The lone goal was scored by defenceman Zach MacLellan, who wasn't at training camp and joined the North Stars for a tryout just before they left on the road trip. Blake Tatchell and Colin Pheneuf had the assists on MacLellan's powerplay goal.
After the North Stars fell to 4-1, Brett Miller capped off a play from Phaneuf and Cody Folstad to make it a 4-2 game.
In the second period, minutes after Kyle Birch allowed another goal, he was bumped by a Dauphin player and tried to take matters into his own hands. That eventually led to a goalie fight with Dauphin's Brett Willows. The fight may have sparked the North Stars, but Birch also earned himself a three-game suspension, which the North Stars were in the process of appealing once they returned from their road trip.
Back to the game in Dauphin - Woody Klassen made the game 5-3 after he blasted a shot late in the second period.
Early in the third, Shayne Morrissey made it 5-4 with Cody Antos and Tim Rollins earning the assists.
Phaneuf scored a minute later from Miller and Tatchell and the game was tied.
The Kings went on the attack shortly after and scored two goals to take a 7-5 lead.
Boyd Wakelin converted with five minutes left from Nathan Tomac and Tony Oak. Later, on a powerplay at 18:55, the comeback was complete as Phaneuf scored his second of the game and picked up his fourth point. Folstad had the assist.
The game went to a shootout. After the first two shooters scored on Garrett Montour in the North Stars' net, Josh Daley, the North Stars fourth shooter scored to make it 2-1 in the shootout. Former North Star Colton Graf sealed the deal, as the Kings' fourth shooter with a goal and the final score was 8-7 Kings.
In the second game, it was all Dauphin, as the Kings led 2-0 after the first and second periods and 4-0 after 60 minutes to grab both exhibition wins.
The North Stars made their way back to Saskatchewan Sunday with a stop in Yorkton for their third game in three days.
The top line of Tatchell, Miller and Phaneuf looked good early and the trio converted to give the North Stars a 1-0 lead, as Phaneuf scored from Tatchell.
Yorkton went on to score one goal in the first, two in the second and another in the third to make it a 4-1 final.
Pearson began the weekend with over 25 players and that number hasn't change much as of Monday. The defenceman on the three-day road trip included returning players Klassen, Folstad and Dominic Perrault. The others included Jacob Chiblow, Myles Baptiste, Zach Wourms, MacLellan and Taylor Egan, a 1991-born defenceman from Kelowna, B.C. who played junior B hockey in Alberta.
The forwards remaining with the team as of Monday include veterans Tatchell, Miller, Oak, Tomac, Wakelin, Daley and Shay Neufeld. The other forwards were Phaneuf, Cody Antos, Morrissey, Rollins, Kyle Hall, Calder Neufeld, Tanner Schwab, Derek Pfisterer and Chad Tichkowsky.
In net, the North Stars have suspended Birch, injured Graham Hildebrand and rookie Montour.
According to Pearson there are still some difficult decisions to be made during practice this week and the team's final exhibition game Tuesday in Humboldt. There may also be another player in the mix as early as Tuesday meaning no spots are safe three days away from opening night.
The North Stars plan to announce their opening night roster Thursday at the season opener breakfast and those players will suit up Saturday, when The North stars kickoff the season against Kindersley.
