Three games in five nights and finally the teams in the North Saskatchewan River Hockey League championship series have been determined.
The Meadow Lake Stampeders and Wilkie Outlaws went the distance and Meadow Lake won game five on home ice with a 4-2 win Monday. It was the first game in the series where there was more than one-goal difference in the final score.
Eric Calibaba, who was a huge factor all series, scored twice for Meadow Lake while Ashton McIntyre had a goal and two assists and Dustin Gorst had one goal and one assist to put Wilkie's season on ice.
Kyle Wagner and Barrett Penner scored for Wilkie in their final game.
Game four in Wilkie Saturday saw the series go to overtime for a second time and for a second time Wilkie earned the win. After 82 minutes of hockey, Wilkie's Robert Keller bounced a point shot by Rick Dallyn in overtime to keep Wilkie's hopes alive. Wilkie's first line of Mike Sittler, Rick Cey and Penner had the other four goals in the game.
Darren Caron scored twice for Meadow Lake while Calibaba and Cole Fern each scored once for Meadow Lake.
Thursday in Meadow Lake, the Stampeders had a strong second period scoring three times and that led them to the 4-3 win. Calibaba, Fern, Jordan Keller and Calvin Fiddler all scored for the Stampeders while Cey, Penner and Mitch Suchan responded for the Outlaws.
In the other semifinal series, the third seed Maidstone Jets beat the second seeded St. Walburg Eagles in three straight games.
The Jets took a 2-0 series lead on the road to St. Walburg Friday when 42 penalty minutes were handed out to St. Walburg. The Jets cruised to a 5-0 win. Dustin MacDonald was the winning goalie while Brett Harrison, Jamie Johnston, Ryan Johnston, Troy Johnston and Kevin Rhinehart scored for the Jets. Rory Gregoire had three assists in the game as well.
Meadow Lake and Maidstone are now set for a best-of-seven championship series. Meadow Lake won both games between the two teams during the regular season, one by a 10-4 score and the other more recent game by a 4-3 margin in overtime.
Game one goes Saturday in Meadow Lake, with game two Tuesday in Maidstone and game three back in Meadow Lake Thursday.
