The last time the Battlefords Midget Stars played in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League's playoffs most of the current players had not even started body contact hockey.
The Stars clinched a spot in the post-season with a 5-1 win over the Notre Dame Hounds Saturday at the Civic Centre, as they earned their 19th win of the season.
The Stars went on to earn another point against the Hounds Sunday after a 3-3 tie.
Saturday started with a chippy first period and the Stars came out slowly, but turned up the pressure in the final two periods. Notre Dame's Keegan Milligan scored a power play goal for the Hounds in the first period and they led 1-0.
In the second, Kent Walchuk, Spencer Bast and Regan Yew all scored for the Stars to give them a 3-1 lead.
Austin Duzan scored in the third period and Bast added a shorthanded goal to finish the scoring.
Eric Williams made 42 stops in the loss while Rylan Toth made 34 saves for the win.
Again, Sunday it was a slower start for the Stars with eight penalties between the two teams in the first frame. Kevin Madden and Jacob Cardiff scored for the Hounds. Cardiff's goal came on a power play and the visiting team led 2-0 after 20 minutes.
Bast continued his impressive weekend, as Eric Pfeifer took a point shot and it was deflected by Bast for his 16th goal of the season.
Regan Yew, who also had a good game for the Stars, scored his 17th goal of the season in the second period. Brian Hillis and Josh Bly drew the assists. Yew went on to hit the goal post three times in the game and showed great speed all afternoon.
In the third period, Ryan Frehlick scored a shorthanded goal early to give the Stars the lead. Braden Lacoursiere earned the assist.
Notre Dame tied the game six minutes later when Egor Popov scored.
The Stars outshot the Hounds 10-5 in the third period, but couldn't break the tie and couldn't beat Williams in overtime to earn the weekend sweep. The Stars were 2-0-2 on the season against the Hounds.
Toth was in net again for the Stars as his record improved to 8-10-5 after making 32 saves.
The Stars will finish the season with three road games. Tuesday they were scheduled to play in Prince Albert and this weekend they play against the Notre Dame Argos in Wilcox.
The Stars were tied for sixth place after the weekend and can finish anywhere from fifth to eighth depending on the results in the final three games.
