After dropping a tight one to the Tisdale Trojans in overtime, the Battlefords took a 3-3 game with the Saskatoon Contacts to the final frame Tuesday before Quinton Ong put the final bookmark in.
It didn’t get any easier for the Stars this weekend, heading to Regina to play the first-place Pat Canadians in a back-to-back two-game series at Co-Operators Arena.
The Saturday night game saw the Stars drop a 7-2 bout in Regina.
Their penalty kill unit killed them in the long run, allowing four goals on six attempts.
It started with back-to-back power play goals for the Pat Canadians. Leading scorer in the SMAAAHL Ty Barnstable registered his 11th of the season, beating Stars goalie Jake Taylor. He’s the type of player you need to watch whenever he touches the ice, especially on the man advantage, also leading the league in power play tallies. Riley Woods, who had a big weekend for the Pats, and Turner Ripplinger registered the helpers.
Three minutes into the middle stanza Ryan Roberts got on the board with his third of the year on the power play, taking a pass from Jake Heerspink before depositing it into the back of the net. Matthew Chekay had the second assist.
Tanner Brewster scored the first of two unanswered goals for the AAA Stars to tie the game at two. The tally would be his fifth point in December. The top three goal scorers on the Stars all collaborated on the mark, as Owen Lamb and Keelan Saworski both chipped in with the helpers.
A minute later it was Jayden Nachtegaele notching his fifth of the year, corralling a pass from Tyson Meyers before delivering the tying goal.
Just 30 seconds later Barnstable found the back of the net for his second of the game and 12th on the season. Ripplinger registered his second point with the feed, while Mark Edmands also connected on the goal.
Regina ran away with it in the third, scoring goals in bunches and delivering four unanswered.
Carson Focht netted a shorthanded goal before Tanner McKechnie and Tanner Bobyck found the back of the net to round out a seven goal performance.
The Stars power play unit sure had their opportunities in game one, but were just unable to capitalize on six chances.
Game two was no different, dropping the finale in Regina by 7-2 as well.
The Pats were just too much for the Stars in this one, managing 43 shots on net and scoring two more power play goals.
In the first game it was Barnstable who found the score sheet three times, this go around it was Riley Woods, registering five points.
The Stars got off to a hot start in the Sunday matinee, finding the back of the net on their struggling power play, courtesy of Jordan Mish. Brandon Griffiths and Ben Hiltz collaborated on his fifth goal of the year.
Carson Denomie came back for the Pats a minute later to deadlock the game at one goal a piece. Woods would find his first point of the game here with the initial pass.
The man advantage for Regina stayed hot with a goal from Ripplinger. The line of him, Barnstable and Woods was hard to stop all weekend.
Both Woods and Barnstable made it 4-1 Pat Canadians before Owen Lamb cut the deficit to two goals with his 7th of the year.
From there it was all Regina, scoring three unanswered to catapult themselves to a win and first place in the SMAAAHL.
On deck are the Prince Albert Mintos Thursday. Last time these two played it was the Stars scoring with seven seconds left in the third to tie the game, eventually winning with a Nachtegaele shootout winner.
The Mintos are 16-7-0-2 and will be another test for the 10-13-0-3 Stars.
