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North Star Chiefs look to turn season around

The Red Deer North Star Chiefs are barely keeping their heads above water this season, but head coach Brent Zimmerman is confident that a consistent concerted effort will double as a life preserver.“It’s different this year with a different group of kids, as it is every year,” the bench boss of the minor midget AAA hockey team said Thursday. “But they’re trying to figure it out now and starting to work together as a team.

The Red Deer North Star Chiefs are barely keeping their heads above water this season, but head coach Brent Zimmerman is confident that a consistent concerted effort will double as a life preserver.

“It’s different this year with a different group of kids, as it is every year,” the bench boss of the minor midget AAA hockey team said Thursday. “But they’re trying to figure it out now and starting to work together as a team.

“I think one of the biggest things is we didn’t have a lot of success because we were sort of struggling with one or two kids missing. It seems now that they have the idea and they know what to do. They’re starting to work together better and it’s starting to come around.”

The North Star Chiefs take a 4-10-2 slate into tonight’s game versus their city rivals, the Strata Energy Chiefs. But despite their record, which has them in 12th spot in the South Division of the AMMHL, their goal-differential is a mere minus-16.

“We’ve been in very game. We seem to lose by one or two goals … a bad bounce here or there,” said Zimmerman, who has also coached at the midget AA level.

While development of the players is first and foremost in terms of importance at every minor league level, it’s even more crucial at the minor midget stage, which is strictly for 15-year-olds.

“You’re trying to expose them to all aspects of the games,” said Zimmerman. “To me, this is a big age for them. They’re either moving on to midget double A or midget triple A, and then hopefully into junior later.

“They need to learn how to play the game, they need to learn the different rules. We try to expose them to everything, including the penalty kill and power play, and get them all working together. That’s my philosophy — to get them exposed to everything.”

Hayden Clayton is the club’s top scorer with 11 goals and 16 points. Fellow forward Keaton Sawicki is the only other player in double figures with six goals and 10 points, while forwards Landen Leipnitz (5-4), Hunter Leslie (5-4) and Braydon McLaughlin (0-9) have each produced nine points.

North Star netminders Brayden Laturnus and Justin Verveda sport respective 4.02 and .4.14 goals-against averages and .866 and .877 save percentages.

While the Chiefs would be out of the playoffs if the post-season started today, Zimmerman can see the team making a push to play beyond the regular season.

“We have some big games coming up in the next little while,” he said. “It’s just about getting the players all on the same page and pulling in the same direction. It’s difficult, but it’s coming.

“I can’t complain about the guys. They come in, they work hard and they listen. Every game I’m seeing improvement and hopefully its going to click for us really quick.”

• The two Red Deer squads have teamed up to stage a ‘toy toss’ following tonight’s contest, which starts at 8 p.m. at the Arena.

All people attending the game are asked to bring a toy and all gifts will be donated to the Red Deer Christmas Bureau.

The clubs are also asking fans to bring items for the Red Deer Food Bank and all 50/50 proceeds will go to the Food Bank.