The SMAAAHL championship trophy will be in the Civic Centre Saturday afternoon, but the hometown team will not have a chance to win it on home ice.
Chance Longjohn had a goal and an assist as the Notre Dame Argos downed the Battlefords Stars 4-1 in game three of the SMAAAHL final in Wilcox Wednesday night.
The Argos took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series with the win, pushing the Stars to the brink of elimination.
The Stars struck first late in the first period on the power play. With Cole Williams in the box for roughing after the whistle, Josh LaFramboise beat Argos goaltender Dylan Ferguson with 4:39 left in the opening frame. It was LaFramboise's ninth goal of the playoffs, assisted by Josh Bly and Alex Pernitsky.
With 3:50 remaining, the Argos leveled the score at one. Jordan Berger got the puck past Stars netminder Rylan Toth for his fifth of the post-season. Longjohn and Keegan Milligan assisted on the tying goal.
Outshooting the Stars 17-7 in the second period, Notre Dame scored three times to jump out to a 4-1 lead.
The Argos took the lead 2:11 into the second period with a goal early on a Stars' penalty. While Kaleb Dahlgren was serving his penalty for holding the stick, Damien Riat scored 10 seconds into the power play to give Notre Dame a 2-1 lead. Makai Holdener picked up the lone assist on Riat's fifth of the playoffs.
Midway through the period, Notre Dame made it a two-goal lead. Longjohn beat Toth for his first of the playoffs with 10:33 to play in the second. Alex McGovern registered the assist on the goal.
With 4:34 remaining, the Argos got their third goal of the period. Colin Burston fired home his first of the playoffs with an assist from Jack Flaman.
Ferguson stood his ground in the third period. He stopped all nine shots put his way to preserve the three-goal lead. In total, the Argos goalie made 36 saves on the evening for the win. Toth stopped 29 of 33 shots faced to pick up his second loss of the playoffs.
The series returns to the Battlefords Saturday afternoon as the Stars face elimination for the first time this post-season. Game four of the series starts at 1:30 p.m.
