The Weyburn Red Wings fell 8-3 to the Battlefords North Stars Saturday night, as the Stars upped their edge in the best-of-seven SJHL quarterfinal to 2-0. The Stars came out quickly, and managed to find every way possible to beat goaltender Cody Levesque. The Wings struggled at times to get a rush going, but there were some glimpses of great play in the game, and promise for games three and four, which are slated for Weyburn Monday and Tuesday.

The Battlefords opened the scoring in the first period, when MacGregor Sinclair netted his first of the post-season at the 7:17 mark. The Wings would reply shortly afterwards, as Ian Parker extended his playoff point streak to five games.

Just seconds into a North Stars powerplay, Parker poked the puck free at the Weyburn blueline, and chased it down into the Battlefords end. Free on the breakaway, he came in on the right wing side, and beat Taryn Kotchorek with a well placed wrister, making it a tie game.

On the same power play, though, the Battlefords would pull ahead again, as Keaton Holinaty scored his second of the playoffs. Before the period would end, Ben Allen would make it a 3-1 game with his third of the playoffs.

In the second period, the Stars pulled away. Layne Young scored what would hold up as the game winner at the seven minute mark of the middle frame. Then, the two teams combined for three goals in the final 2:30 of the second. It started with Ben Allen beating Levesque for the second time on the night, and then Connor Logan scored a goal unassisted less than 30 seconds later.

Weyburn would answer back with one of their own with 0.5 seconds left on the clock, when Braden Mellon took a feed from Ian Parker on the left wing, came in over the blue line and from the faceoff circle fired a quick shot into the twine past Kotchorek.

The five goal lead would be restored by the Stars early in the third, when Levi Kleiboer put a point shot past Levesque, but Weyburn would work to keep it close. Just seconds later, a faceoff in the Battlefords end was won by Braden Mellon. He poked it forward, got around the Star's centre, and put the puck on net, getting it past Kotchorek for his second of the game. The momentum the Wings generated from that goal was quelched moments later, though, when Sinclair scored his second of the game to bring it to an 8-3 final.

The Wings will now have a day to prepare for game three, which is set for Monday night at Crescent Point Place in Weyburn. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m. You will be able to listen to all the action on Red Wing Radio K106, starting with the pregame show at 7:20 p.m. Game four will be Tuesday night in Weyburn, with game five, if necessary, played in the Battlefords Thursday.