October 8-9, 2011 - A really tough weekend for the Jr. Varsity Stars as they faced the two top teams in the League. After losing Top Forward Sebastian Habernig during the week to a lower body injury, it was going to be a really hard couple of games.

Saturday the Stars travelled to Salzburg to face the Red Bulls. A high paced first period started the weekend off in great form. Salzburg would take a 1-0 lead into the break and if it wasn't for Dominik Dieber making some huge saves, the Stars could have been a few more down. The Stars showed way too much respect for the Red Bulls in the first and only managed 2 shots on net. In the second period the Stars came out flying and dominated the period. Vlad Rodnov would tie the game after a great pinch by Sztatecsny and a backhand pass by Garrit Blume. The Stars had the Red Bulls running and forced them to take some penalties. This is where we would learn another lesson. Being on the Power Play does not mean you don't have to work hard, it means you have to work even harder. It would be the Short handed Red Bulls who would outwork the Stars and score two short handed goals which would be the difference in the game. Eduard Kusnetsov, and Nikita Zantmans would both hit solid posts but on this night, the puck would not bounce our way. A solid game and the chances were there but this day would not be ours.

On Sunday morning after a late drive home the night before, the Stars would show signs of being tired. With less than 12 hours recovery time before the opening face off the Stars came out and held their own to start the game. The opponent on this day, first place club Klagenfurt. The KAC moved the puck much better than the Stars and built a 2-0 lead after the first period. After Garrit Blume would score top corner on a pass from Christoph Kitzenegger and Daniil Ovchinnikov, the KAC would score 2 more to increase their lead to 4-1 after two. The Stars were tired and although we had 4 lines going you could see the weekend schedule was causing some simple mistakes that they would normally not make. KAC was the better team on this day, the Stars fell back in the trap trying to play as individuals, and after winning 3 games in a row watching other teams trying to beat us as individuals, we would do the same and although Stefan Boskovic would score a beautiful end to end goal late in the third, the game had already been decided. Frustration and penalties were reminders of our first weekend, but signs of a tired hockey team. Congratulations on the KAC for a well played game.

Next weekend the Jr. Varstiy Stars travel to Vienna and are looking forward to a good week of practice and hopefully another win.

RED BULLS SALZBURG:LA JR. VARSITY 4-1

LA JR. VARSITY:KAC 3-7