The top two teams in the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League's North Division were upset on the weekend.
The first overall West Central Wheat Kings were eliminated from the playoffs by the Battlefords Bantam AA Barons in three games.
The Barons won the first game of the series 4-2 on the road March 2.
Wednesday, they hosted West Central and fell 6-2 to the Wheat Kings. West Central put 40 shots at the net towards Matthew Flath and Dax Desmarais, who both saw action in the game.
Jayden Nachtagaele started the scoring for the Barons in the first period and they led 1-0 after 20 minutes. In the second, West Central scored two power play goals and four in total in the period to lead 4-1. West Central went up 6-1 in the game before Koby Vidal scored for the Barons.
So after the 6-2 barons' loss, both teams won games on the road and the third and deciding game was scheduled for Friday at the West Central Events Centre.
It was a back-and-forth game all the way, as West Central took the 1-0 lead. Brandon Lesko scored for the Barons and Keegan Tiringer added another in the final minute of the first period to give the Barons the 2-1 lead after the first period.
In the second, West Central again started the scoreing, but it was answered by goals from Blake Oborowsky and Nachtagaele for the Barons. Battlefords led 4-2 after two periods despite being outshot 26-22.
In the third period, the referees put the whistles away and let the players settle the game on the ice, as no penalties were called in the final 20 minutes of the game.
West Central scored on a power play that carried over from the second period and pulled to within a goal early. Blake Fennig responded for the Barons and helped them regain the two-goal lead.
Later, West Central scored again to climb back to within a goal. Two minutes later, Lesko scored for the Barons making it 6-4. West Central scored with 1:02 to play in the game to draw to within a goal one more time, but that was as close as they would come.
The Barons held on for the 6-5 win with Flath making 30 saves for the win.
The Barons advance to the North Division final and will face Sask Valley, who were 15-9-3 on the season and upset the second-overall North East team to punch their ticket to the North final.
The Barons finished the regular season 12-11-4 and since have beat Prince Albert and West Central in game three to advance to the next round.
Sask Valley will have home ice for the North Division final, but the schedule wasn't finalized at press time.
