The Battlefords AAA Stars reached the SMAAAHL final for the second consecutive season with their game five win in Tisdale Thursday.
It was the Trojans opening the scoring in the first when Devin Gerwing took a shot from the high slot that snuck through the pads of Brett Pongracz 14 minutes into the period.
The Stars had the only power play opportunity in the first, but trailed in shots 16-11 after 20 minutes.
The Stars offence came to life in the second.
Three minutes into the period, the Stars had a two-on-one break, and captain Keifer Hintz sent a pass over the stick of the defenceman to Owen Lamb who beat Justen Close blocker side to tie the game.
Late in the period the Trojans received their only power play of the game when Hintz was sent off for tripping with 2:18 remaining.
The Stars were the beneficiaries, however.
Thirty-nine seconds into the power play, Close came out of his net to play the puck around the boards.
His shot took a strange bounce off the boards and landed right on the stick of Layne Young, who quickly fired the puck into the vacant net.
Young wasn’t finished.
Just over a minute later the Stars had another two-on-one chance, this time Young elected to shoot the puck, which just snuck under the pad of Close and into the net for his second short-handed goal on the same penalty kill.
Dawson Bacon and Traye Tkatchuk were given the assists on the goal.
The Stars headed into the second intermission with a 3-1 lead, but still trailed in shots 20-24.
While the shots in the third period ended in favour of the Stars 9-6, it was the Trojans getting on the board.
Kootenay Ice draft pick Drew Warkentine fired home a pass from Kalem Zary during a scramble in front of the Stars goal with 4:57 left in the game. Caleb Seaman was given the second assist.
Eight seconds after the goal, the Stars went back to the power play as Seaman was called for a hit to the head.
While the Stars couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity, it did give them two minutes of control as the clock wound down.
Despite a furious late push from Tisdale, the Stars held on for the 3-2 win and booked their ticket to the finals against the Regina Pat Canadians.
The opening game of that series took place Saturday, and the Stars lost 5-2.
Opening the scoring was Tyler Baier from Bacon and Tkatchuk less than five minutes into the game on the power play.
The Canadians responded with a power-play goal of their own when Arthur Miller scored from Riley Woods and Jake Tesarowski with 4:55 remaining.
The Stars jumped back out in front 1:39 later when Lamb scored his fourth of the playoffs from Hintz and Keelan Saworski.
The Stars led 2-1 after one despite being outshot 13-6.
The Canadians power play got them back in the game early in the second when Woods scored from Tesarowski and Conner Chaulk just 1:01 into the frame.
It was the only goal of the period.
Braydon Buziak was sent to the penalty box for hooking with 1:24 left in the second, and 30 seconds into the third the Canadians took the lead.
Tesarowski scored with the help of Owen Sillinger and Woods.
The Stars couldn’t solve Clarke Flegel again, and a pair of goals from Sillinger and Miller sealed a 5-2 Stars loss.
Pongracz finished with 30 saves.
This is a familiar situation for the Stars, as they also dropped game one of the finals last season against the Notre Dame Argos.
After opening the regular season with a win over Regina, the Stars dropped the next three against the Canadians.
Game two of the series is Tuesday at the Civic Centre.
