It is still pre-season for teams in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League, with the Battlefords Stars taking on the Beardy's Blackhawks in a home and home exhibition series on the weekend.
Saturday afternoon saw the Stars and Beardy's on Civic Centre ice for a closely-fought contest.
The teams traded goals in the first. Dawson Bacon scored from Tanner Brewster at the 7:12 mark to make it 1-0, but Beardy's tied it at 1-1 on a power play goal by Matthew Leniuk with 2:25 remaining in the period.
In the second, Keelan Saworski made it 2-1 from Tyson Meyers and Owen Lamb on the power play.
Jayden Nachtegaele's goal midway through the third made it 3-1. Clayton McKenzie's goal with a little over four minutes left gave the Blackhawks a last chance at winning, but the Stars prevailed 3-2. Shots were 29-24 for the Blackhawks.
Sunday afternoon's game was at Beardy's and it was a different story, with Beardy's scoring four times in the second period, powering them to a 5-3 victory.
Keelan Saworski's power play goal tied it in the first and the Stars briefly took the lead when Tanner Brewster scored on the power play early in the second, but it was all Beardy's after that.
Josh Sielsky and Clayton McKenzie scored twice en route to the win for the Blackhawks. Jayden Nachtegaele's goal in the third wrapped up the Stars scoring in the third period.
