Stars clip Wings in Game 1

The Stars celebrate a third period goal from Jordyn Holmes, right.

    A tougher opponent proved to be no problem at all for the Saskatoon Stars.

    The Stars opened their best-of-five Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League semifinal series with a 5-0 victory over the Weyburn Southern Range Gold Wings at the Agriplace Arena on Monday night.

    In the quarter-final round, the Stars swept a best-of-five series 3-0 against the Battlefords Sharks, who were 3-23-2 during the regular season. The Stars outscored the Sharks 28-3 in that series.

    Weyburn finished fourth overall in the SFMAAAHL regular season with an 18-9-1 record, and the Gold Wings are still expected to give the Stars, who topped the league regular season standings with a 24-4 record, a tough test. The Gold Wings also host the Esso Cup national championship tournament in April.

    In Monday’s series opener, the Stars jumped ahead 1-0 at the 11:14 mark of the first period on what appeared to be a lucky break goal by Rayna Jacobson. The officials weren’t sure Jacobson poked the puck in the net during a scrum of sticks around the Weyburn goal, but they awarded a tally after a conference discussion.

    With 61 seconds to play in the first, Julia Rongve put the Stars up 2-0 on a wraparound, where the puck just trickled out from under Gold Wings goalie Chantel Burke into the net.

Mackenna Parker potted the Stars third goal in their win on Monday.

    Mackenna Parker, who was the second leading scorer in the SFMAAAHL, put the Stars up 3-0 early in the second. Abby Shirley converted a fancy passing play from linemates Grace Shirley and Joelle Fiala to give the Stars a 4-0 edge heading into the second intermission.

    Jordyn Holmes added Saskatoon’s final goal late in the third.

    Emma Johnson made 14 stops to earn her fifth career shutout in SFMAAAHL post-season play for Saskatoon. Chantal Burke turned away 40 shots taking the loss in goal for Weyburn.

    The Stars and Gold Wings will go at it again in Game 2 of the series on Friday in Weyburn. Game 3 is set for Sunday at 4:45 p.m. at the Agriplace Arena. If necessary, Game 4 is set for Tuesday, March 15 in Weyburn and Game 5 would be on Wednesday, March 16 at the Agriplace Arena at a time to be determined.

    Saskatoon won three of the four games against Weyburn in the regular season.

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Stars grind out 14th straight win

Kianna Dietz drives a shot on goal for the Stars.

    Victory didn’t come easy for the Saskatoon Stars.

    The defending Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League champs had to grind out their 14^th straight win of the season on Saturday night at the Agriplace Arena against a very game Battlefords Sharks side. The Stars outshot the Sharks, who occupy the basement of the SFMAAAHL, 49-21, but only managed to pull out a 3-1 victory.

    The visiting Sharks played with some good intensity and confidence and jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 1:38 into the first period on a goal by Brittany Yeager. They also created a number of strong scoring chances on five different power-play opportunities causing Stars standout goaltender Emma Johnson to make a number of quality stops in a 20 save performance.

    Saskatoon tied the contest up at 1-1 inside of the final minute of the first, when Kianna Dietz and Grace Shirley combined to set up Rayna Jacobson on a pretty looking goal.

    The Stars took their first lead of the contest with 10.9 seconds to play in the second, when Jacobson and Shirley combined to spring 15-year-old rookie Brooke Hausermann in alone on the Battlefords goal on a coast-to-coast rush. The Kamsack product made no mistake tucking her fourth goal of the season past Sharks goalie Chloe Marshall to give the hosts a 2-1 edge.

Chloe Marshall kicks out a save for the Sharks.

    Saskatoon netted a short-handed goal at the 8:33 mark of the third, when Julia Rongve and Willow Slobodzian sprung Jordyn Holmes into the Sharks zone on a breakaway. Holmes made no mistake in potting a key insurance marker.

    Marshall was stellar in goal for the Sharks making 46 saves as her squad fell to 2-13-2.

    The Stars lost their first game of the 2015-16 campaign back on Oct. 3 in Melville, when they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Prairie Fire, and that has been their only setback so far this season in posting a 14-1 mark.

    They return to action on Sunday, when they host the Sharks at 2:15 p.m. at the Agriplace Arena.

    If you would like to pass along any comments about this blog post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.