If the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs were to start today, the Battlefords Midget Stars would enter the post-season in fifth place and face the Regina Pat Canadians.
Those two teams met twice on the weekend and split the games, staying put in the standings.
Saturday, Regina grabbed a 1-0 lead after the first period when Michael Eskra scored.
The Stars evened the score in the second after Eric Pfeifer found the back of the net on a power play from Corbin Schmidt and Ashton Clark. It was Pfeifer's third goal of the season.
The Stars came out strong in the third period and outscored the Canadians 3-1 in the period to claim the 4-2 win.
Regan Yew scored halfway through the period with Austin Duzan and Spencer Bast assisting on his 13th goal of the season.
Two minutes later, Duzan scored his team-leading 16th goal from Bast.
Kent Walchuk scored late in the game from Brian Hillis for his sixth goal of the season.
Regina's Zachary Zborosky also scored in the third period to make it 3-2 at the time, but the Stars stayed focused and earned the two points.
Ryan Rewerts made 33 saves for his 10th win of the season.
Sunday, Rylan Toth was in net, as the Stars were hoping for the weekend sweep and were looking to jump ahead of Regina in the standings.
The Stars outshot the Canadians 12-1 in the first period, but the game was tied 0-0 after 20 minutes.
The teams were tied 2-2 after the second period. Dylan Ostertag scored for Regina and nearly two minutes later the Stars struck on a power play. Ryan Frehlick scored his eighth of the season from Bast.
Duzan put the Stars in front later in the second period with Clark drawing an assist.
In the final minute of the second, Tristan Frei scored to tie the game.
That gave Regina some momentum, as they started the third period with a power play goal by Mitch Lipon, a shorthanded marker by Ostertag and an even strength goal by Eric Duran.
Frehlick scored his second power play goal of the game for the Stars from Maxim Powiada and Duzan, but Joshua Rieger sealed the 6-3 win for Regina with a late power play goal.
The Stars had just 14 skaters dressed Sunday. The team's leading scorer Josh Bly didn't play Sunday nor did affiliated player Traye Tkatchuk, who played in Saturday's game. The Stars were bit hard by the injury bug last weekend and are without defencemen Braden Lacoursiere and Robin Yew and forward Terrin Belosowsky for some time.
Sunday, Toth made 23 saves in the loss while the Stars out shot Regina 31-29.
The Stars will wrap up their January schedule with a game Thursday at home against Prince Albert. The Mintos are first overall with a 24-5-2-0 record. The Stars are 17-11-5-1 this season.
Prince Albert is 2-0 against the Stars this season.
