The Battlefords AAA Stars wrapped up their finest regular season in years this weekend with a sweep of the Notre Dame Hounds.
Going into the final weekend the Hounds needed a sweep of their own in order to stay in the playoff race in the SMAAAHL. But wins by the Stars by scores of 7-3 on Saturday and 6-4 on Sunday eliminated the Hounds from playoff contention.
The results mean the Stars wind up the season at 29-7-5-3 for 66 points, a second-place finish three points behind the Notre Dame Argos at 33-8-3. That means the Stars will face the seventh-place Saskatoon Contacts in round one of the playoffs set to begin later this week.
Notre Dame's record of 13-24-3-3 gives them only 32 points with one game left on their schedule, leaving them six points behind the final playoff spot held by the Yorkton Harvest.
Notre Dame got off to a fast start in the game Saturday afternoon with power play goals by both Vincent Lavoie and then from Angus Scott late in the first period.
But the Stars got rolling at the 4:21 mark with a goal from Michael Korol, assisted by Kaleb DahlgrenandGraham Gove. The Stars then tied it at the 6:04 mark on a power play goal by Josh Bly from Josh LaFramboiseand Alex Pernitsky.
LaFramboise got his second assist with 3:53 left in the second when he and Brandon Lesko assisting on Mason Benning's go-ahead goal to make it 3-2.
Then, just 22 seconds into the third, it was LaFramboise who scored from BlyandSpencer Bast.
Lavoie's second of the game a short time later,from Lantz Hiebertand Brady Third, cut it to 4-3, but two goals from Bast, with 8:56 and then with 3:45 left, sealed the game for the Stars. LaFramboise assisted on both goals; the second of Bast's goals came short-handed with the Hounds having pulled their netminder for the extra attacker.
Bryce Neufeld's goal with 50 seconds remaining capped the day of scoring for the Stars. Not surprisingly, LaFramboise's domination of the score sheet earned him player of the game honours for the Stars.
The second weekend tilt was Sunday afternoon at the Civic Centre and once again it was the Hounds who scored first. Angus Scott scored 4:11 into the game from Egor Popov and Manuel Manero to make it 1-0.
But goals by Kaleb Dahlgren, Josh Bly, Nicholas Riemer, and then a power-play marker by Keifer Hintzfrom Spencer Bast and Troy Gerein put the Stars in the lead.
Notre Dame tied it early in the second on an unassisted Rhett Kingston goal, but the Stars answered back with goals by Bast from Layne Young and Graham Gove, and then at the 9:40 mark on the power play as Gove scored from Young and Traye Tkatchuk.
The Stars extended the lead to 6-2 as Tkachuk scored on the power play from Gerein and Young, and then LaFramboise scored from Gove and Keifer Hintz. Two late goals by Ty Brown from Jamie Yanko, and then by Yanko from Lavoie and Popov, finished the scoring on the day, and for the 2013-14 regular season.
It is now onto the playoffs for the Stars with dates and times still to be announced. The Stars, however, will have home-ice advantage in both the first and second rounds of the playoffs.
