The Stars were at home to take on the undefeated Midland Centennials #2 team looking to send them to their first loss of the season.
The game looked to be a little bit of a mismatch on paper as the Centennials had cruised to a perfect 10 - 0 regular season record entering the game compared to the Stars 2 - 5 record so the Stars knew they were going to be in tough.
It was evident the Centennials were a much bigger team then the Stars as they went through their warm-ups. The key to the Stars keeping the game close was to be aggressive on the puck and not let the better skating Centennial team get momentum. Then on offense they needed to take advantage of any miscues that were presented. The game started in a flurry and the Midland team was buzzing around the Stars net but the Stars goalie, Revan V, made multiple big saves throughout the first period to keep the game scoreless until with under a minute left in the period the Centennials finally broke through with a goal.
In between periods the coaching staff stayed consistent with their message and as the second period got underway the Centennials defensemen made a mistake while trying to pinch and Jayden V made a great breakout pass to Matthew M who got the puck up to Logan T who broke in alone and tied the game with low wrist shot to the blocker side of the goalie. The game was on and it looked like the Centennials were a little taken aback at how tough the Stars were playing and how good Revan was playing in net. After the game resumed the Stars let their guard down little and the Centennials got a little skating momentum and responded with a goal of their own to retake the lead 2 -1 but the Stars continued to battle and resumed checking hard and Revan held down the fort in net. However, the period ended on a sour note as the Stars gave up an end to end rush and goal to fall behind 3 -1.
Considering the strength of team the Stars were facing the coaching staff were quiet happy with how the team was staying strong and encouraged the defense of Chyna S, Emma P, Landon L, Andrew G to continue battling in front of the net to keep things clear for Revan and they kept up their end of bargain as the Centennials were held scoreless for the remainder of the game. The back-checking of the forwards also contributed including some strong play by the line of Ben P, Jaelyn B, and Jacob D. In the end the scoreboard was not in favour of the Stars but the team could hold their heads high as they had limited the Centennials to there lowest scoring output for the season.
For his efforts and playing a complete 200 foot game as a centreman Ben P was awarded player of the game honours.
GO STARS Go!!
