The Battlefords Stars will play for the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League title.
They earned their spot in the finals after a strong third period sealed a come-from-behind 4-1 win Saturday, and with it, a three-game sweep of the Prince Albert Mintos in the semifinals.
For a franchise that was a perennial league also-ran until two years ago, it was a proud moment.
"It's unbelievable," said an emotional head coach Martin Smith after the game.
"In the two years this program has come a long way, and who would have thought we would be in the league final. But it's about the little things, and we've taken care of those things all year."
Smith added that it was a team effort that got them there. "From the goaltending to the defence to the forwards to the APs that have jumped in the lineup, it's just an incredible team effort."
Still, the coach added "we've got a long way to go," as the team now waited to find out who will win the series between the Notre Dame Argos and Regina Pat Canadians. Notre Dame led the series 2-1 following weekend action.
Game three followed on the heels of an epic game two battle that went two overtimes Thursday at the Art Hauser Centre, before the Stars prevailed 3-2 on a power play goal by Spencer Bast.
The game at the Civic Centre saw no scoring through a relatively even first period. However, penalties caught up with the Stars in period two. Prince Albert finally opened the scoring as Jared Blaquiere scored with the Stars' Mason Benning in the box for boarding to make it 1-0 Mintos early in the second.
Late in the period, the Stars were sent to the box again as Dawson Bacon was called for slashing. This time, Layne Young scored a shorthanded marker from Alex Pernitsky and Troy Gerein, knotting it up at 1-1 after two.
The Stars took control in the third as Logan Nachtegaele scored early in the period from Bacon and Keifer Hintz. At the 4:09 mark, Josh Bly got the all-important insurance marker from Bast and Josh LaFramboise.
What hope the Mintos had for a comeback faded in the final minutes as Matthew Parsons was called for charging with 2:14 remaining. The Mintos pulled their goalie Connor Ingram just to get back to even strength, but Bast fired the puck into the open net with 1:03 left, sealing a 4-1 victory and a 3-0 series sweep for the Stars.
Rylan Toth stopped 23 of 24 Prince Albert shots. Overall, the Stars outshot the Mintos 30-24.
Coach Smith said after the game the team planned a couple of days rest before they return to action in the league final, with the dates and times for that series to be determined.
