A total team effort is what鈥檚 driving the Edam Three Stars at the moment.
On Tuesday night, the Three Stars evened up their best-of-five Saskatchewan Prairie Hockey League final series with the Hafford Hawks at a game apiece, following an impressive 6-0 win on home ice.
鈥淎t this time of year, your key players are going to be kept in check by the top opposing defencemen and the checking lines, so you need the depth guys to come through,鈥� Three Stars player-coach Martin Smith said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 where you need that total team effort from everyone, starting with the goaltender and working forward from there. That鈥檚 exactly what we saw at home Tuesday night.鈥�
It was a nice bounce-back performance for the Three Stars, as they suffered a 5-3 loss to start the series in Hafford Friday evening.
鈥淲e all knew the importance of that game at home as we didn鈥檛 want to go down 2-0 to a team as good as Hafford is,鈥� Smith said.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 quite have the jump that we wanted in that first game, and I think that came from having a bit of time off following our series with the (Battleford) Beaver Blues. We knew we had to be more physical against Hafford right from the start in the rematch, and we did that.鈥�
Brody Roach had a hat trick and an assist in Tuesday鈥檚 win, while Owen LaClare and Brennon Weitzel each had three-point nights.
Quintion Gauthier stopped every shot he faced to earn his second shutout of the playoffs.
Prior to their game against the Hawks, the Three Stars punched their ticket to the Senior D provincial final with a 7-2 win at home over the Kenaston Blizzard.
鈥淭hat game was a lot closer than the score shows,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淭hey had a pair of two-minute five-on-three power-plays when the score was 3-1 for us, and we were able to kill that off.
鈥淥ur goaltender was our best penalty killer that night, as Quinton came up big for us.鈥�
The Three Stars will open up their provincial final series against Wilcox at 5 p.m. Sunday in Turtleford.
鈥淭he team鈥檚 made up of quite a few former Notre Dame Hounds and a number of players that were on the Radville team that the Wilkie Outlaws beat in the provincials a couple of years ago,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淭hey were a hard working team and I expect this group to be the same.鈥�
The second game of the series will take place on Friday, March 24 in Wilcox, while a third and deciding contest would take place on Sunday, March 26 at a yet to be determined arena.
鈥淲ith the weather warming up, that game against Hafford Tuesday was probably the last game we鈥檒l have in our home rink this year,鈥� Smith said.
鈥淚f it stays this warm, we鈥檒l probably have to move the third game of our series with Hafford on Friday, which was supposed to be in their rink.鈥�
