As the regular season comes to a close, the Norman Northstars continue to struggle playing consistently, with their Feb. 16−17 series against the Brandon Wheat Kings being a prime example.
Even though they ended up losing 8−4 and 8−2 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, the Northstars did show occasional signs of life that could have helped them attain victory.
After a decent back and forth for the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s game, Wheat Kings forward Troy Hamilton opened the scoring for his team at the C.A. Nesbitt Arena and put the Northstars into a funk.
Over the next 25 minutes, the Wheat Kings scored another seven unanswered goals, including a natural hat trick courtesy of forward Nolan Ritchie.
With five minutes left to go in the second period, the Northstars’ coaching staff called a timeout to help their players shake the cobwebs and get back into the game.
This pep talk seemed to do its job, since forwards Hunter Rambow and Henry Muchikekwanape scored two quick goals to close out the second period.
In the third period, the Northstars even managed to cut the Wheat Kings’ lead in half thanks to another pair of goals from Keistin Saunders and Muchikekwanape.
However, this comeback was too little, too late and the Northstars couldn’t capitalize on any other scoring opportunities for the rest of regulation time, resulting in an 8−4 final for the Wheat Kings.
The Northstars suffered largely the same fate during Sunday’s rematch, except in reverse.
The Thompson team kept pace with their Brandon rivals for the first 30 minutes of play, slightly trailing them 3−2 halfway through the second period.
However, after getting into some penalty trouble, the Northstars’ hustle fell off a cliff and the Wheat Kings scored another five unanswered goals, which lead to an 8−2 final in their favour.
Following this latest pair of games, the Northstars will be competing in their final series of the 2018−19 regular season at home, where they will be going head-to-head with the Interlake Lightening Feb. 23−24.
While the Northstars’ chances of making the playoffs are non-existent, since they are currently sitting with a 6−38 win-loss record this late into the season, they can still catch up to the 12th-place Parkland Rangers in the standings by winning these final two games.
