The Edam Three Stars are fighting a two-pronged battle this weekend.
In addition to opening up their Saskatchewan Prairie Hockey League final series with the Hafford Hawks Friday night in Hafford, they will be playing host to the Kenaston Blizzard in the second game of their Senior ‘D’ provincial semifinal series Saturday evening.
“We are a team that’s gone through some adversity over the course of the season and I think those experiences are helping us out big time at the moment,” Three Stars player and coach Martin Smith said.
“We’ve been through some tough games at the start of the year where we got tired and we didn’t let the puck do the work. To the guys’ credit, they never complained and they’ve been focused on reaching their end goal. There’s a lot of pride in that dressing room and we’re just a couple of steps away from capping off a great season.”
The Three Stars advanced to the SPHL final last Friday night as they won a fifth and deciding game over the Battleford Beaver Blues by a score of 5-1 in Turtleford.
“I think the key was staying disciplined,” Smith said. “Obviously staying out of the penalty box is important, but we also did a great job of sticking to our system, especially in being able to shut down their top line.”
Former SJHL forward Owen LaClare continued his impressive post-season for the Three Stars in the series decider, as he had two goals and an assist.
Heading into the final, LaClare has 18 points in eight playoff games and is one point behind teammate Mitch Wall for the league lead.
“His passion and commitment is second to none,” Smith said. “I don’t see a weak spot in his game at the moment.
“Coming into the senior ranks this year, I think it took him a little bit to get used to playing at this level, but he’s really found his groove here over the last three weeks.”
After losing in double-overtime at home a few days earlier in the third game of the series, the Three Stars came up big with their backs against the wall with a 7-3 win on March 2 at Battleford Arena to tie the best-of-five series up at two games a piece.
“We had played that double overtime game and a four-overtime game a couple days before that against Kyle in the provincials, so we were pretty beat up heading into that game,” Smith said.
“It was the play of our veteran guys like Wall and Brody Roach that turned things around as they made a couple of big hits that sparked the team. The line of Damon Schaefer, Ty Ross and Brent Blais had a couple of big goals, and that’s what you need at this time of the year in order to have a good playoff run.”
After knocking out the Beaver Blues, the Three Stars travelled to Kenaston and started their best-of-three provincial series with a 5-3 win over the Blizzard.
“We got a lot of pucks on net and we played our systems well all night,” Smith said. “We actually had a 4-1 lead after two periods, but we took a couple of penalties that they capitalized on to make it a one-goal game before we scored an empty net goal.
“Kenaston has a really good goaltender (Brett Lewchuk) who played a bit with the Estevan Bruins, and he made a number of big saves where we thought for sure that the puck had gone in the net before he was able to stop it. Their defence is definitely the back bone of their team.”
The Three Stars have a chance to advance to the provincial final if they can win Saturday’s game in Edam, which starts at 8:30 p.m.
If needed, a third and deciding battle will take place in Kenaston at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Before they resume that series, the Three Stars will visit Hafford Friday night for 8:30 p.m. contest to kick off the best-of-five SPHL final.
The Hawks, who entered the playoffs as the number one ranked team, erased a 2-0 deficit in their best-of-five semifinal series to defeat the defending league champion Shellbrook Silvertips.
“We lost at home to Hafford earlier in the season and I remember saying at the time that they were the best team that I had seen up to that point,” Smith said. “We went back to their rink and had the lead late, but they tied it up and went on to win in overtime.
“We’re a bit of an underdog going into this series. They were first in the regular season, they won the league a couple of years ago and they have the home-ice advantage. There’s not as much pressure on us and I think we can go in there feeling loose.”
The series will resume Tuesday in Edam at 8:30 p.m., with the third game taking place on March 17 in Hafford at 8:30 p.m.
The dates for the fourth and fifth games, if required, have yet to be determined.
