At the beginning of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League season, head coach Martin Smith and the Battlefords Midget Stars set goals for the season. One was to make it to the Mac's Tournament in December, another was to make the playoffs.
Mission accomplished for those two goals. The Stars finished the regular season in seventh place and with a 19-18-6-1 record. The Stars had more wins this season than the previous two combined.
Making the playoffs is a huge step in the right direction for this hockey program, but they will not be settling for just making the playoffs. The Stars will look to upset the team they have played well against this season in the Saskatoon Contacts. The Stars are 1-2-1-0 against Saskatoon this season.
The Stars couldn't climb up the standings in the final week of the regular season, as they lost 7-1 and 6-4 to the Notre Dame Argos on the road on the weekend.
Notre Dame outshot the Stars 44-27 in Saturday's game and lead 3-0, 4-0 and 7-1 by the periods.
The Stars' lone marker came after they trailed by seven goals. Spencer Bast scored from Terrin Belosowsky and Ryan Frehlick. Ryan Rewerts was in net for the Stars and stopped 37 shots.
There were a total of 58 penalty minutes issued and one game ejection with 25 power plays in total. The Stars were 0/11 the Argos were 4/14.
Sunday produced a better effort by the Stars as they outshot the Argos 34-32. The Stars also had a close race brewing for the leading scorer on the team. Regan Yew scored his 18th and 19th goals of the season while Bast scored his 19th and 35th point. Josh Bly scored his 15th goal of the season and finished the year with a team-high 40 points.
Yew, Bast and Austin Duzan finished second, third and fourth in points and all were tied for first in goals with 19 on the season.
Sunday, Rewerts was in net again for the Stars.
The first round of playoffs gets started Friday in Saskatoon. Game two will be Sunday at the Civic Centre with game three set for Tuesday in Saskatoon. If necessary game four will be played March 7 at the Civic Centre and game five is scheduled for March 9.
