The Norman Northstars extended their latest losing streak to seven games this past weekend facing the first place Winnipeg Wild at home.
With the C.A. Nesbitt Arena temporarily out of commission, the two midget AAA teams butted heads inside the smaller Gordon Beard Arena Jan. 26–27, which led to a series of fast-paced, high-scoring contests.
However, this quicker pace favoured one side over the other, as the Wild tallied a combined 29 goals and 117 shots on goal by the end of this weekend series.
Friday’s match-up started out on a promising note for the Northstars, as they successfully killed off a four-minute penalty at the beginning of the first period.
Even though the Wild scored three times to finish out the first 20 minutes, the Northstars still managed to establish an aggressive back-and-forth to stay in the game.
Unfortunately, this competitiveness almost completely disappeared during the second period.
The Wild’s superior size and speed allowed them to take over during this time, and they ended up putting away five unanswered goals to get an 8–0 lead heading into the last 20 minutes of play.
By the start of the third period, the Northstars were simply out of gas and their defence crumbled, leading to another seven goals for the Wild and a 15–0 final in their favour.
Saturday’s game was at least more competitive by virtue of the fact that Northstars finally snuck a couple goals past Wild goaltender Miles Minor. In fact, the Norman squad even drew first blood thanks to forward Keistin Saunders.
While fellow forwards Hunter Rambow and Mitchell Reid also added to the scoreboard for their team, it wouldn’t be enough to stop the Wild’s offensive onslaught.
Similar to what happened the previous night, the Wild outmaneuvered and outmatched their opponents during all three periods, barely allowing them to generate any substantial shots on goal.
By the time the smoke cleared at the end of the third period, the Wild’s aggressive strategy secured them a 14–3 final.
With nine games left in the regular season, the Northstars coaching staff will have a tough time keeping their players motivated going forward, since they have already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.
Additionally, next weekend’s set of games won’t be any less intense, since the fourth-place Eastman Selects will be looking for revenge after the Northstars pulled off an overtime victory against them Jan. 12.
This series is set to take place Feb. 2–3 at the Thompson Regional Community Centre at 7:30 p.m.
