Listen to daily commentary from provincial news director Sarah Mills
Sarah Mills says parents are probably breathing a sigh of relief as kids head back to school after the Easter break.
The Saskatoon Stars will have a chance to win the Esso Cup for the first time in their history.
The Stars defeated the North York Storm 3-2 on Friday afternoon in Lloydminster, Sask., to book their ticket to the final of Canada’s U18 girls national hockey championship.
Read more:
- Saskatoon Stars advance to Esso Cup semifinal after 8-1 win
- Saskatoon Stars lose 4-3 after a shootout to Jr. Oilers at Esso Cup
- Saskatoon Stars fall to Étoiles de Laurentides-Lanaudière 5-2 at Esso Cup
In the first period, Stars forward Mikayla Broadfoot opened the scoring with a power-play goal 15:07 into the opening frame to put her team up 1-0.
The Stars would hang on to that lead heading into the first intermission, but in the second period, the Storm would respond.
Just 3:09 into the second period, Lily Paisley got the Storm on the scoreboard to tie the game at 1-1.
The game would remain deadlocked for another 3:10 of game time until the Storm took its first lead of the game when Demi Lazarou sent her shot past Stars goalie Tarynn Sutter to make it a 2-1 game.
The Storm held onto its lead until the third period, when the Stars were able to pull off the comeback win.
Sadie Green scored for the Stars 3:18 into the third period to tie things up at 2-2.
In the winding stages of the game with 5:44 remaining in regulation time, the Stars got their lead back after Mikayla Broadfoot wired her second goal of the game through Storm goalie Ryleigh Maxwell to put them up 3-2, which ultimately led to the game-winning goal.
Sutter stopped 22 of 24 shots she faced for the Stars in the win.
The Stars will play for the Esso Cup championship on Saturday at 5 p.m. in Lloydminster, Sask., against either the Edmonton Junior Oilers or the host Lloydminster Steelers.
The Stars have never won the Esso Cup and made the final once in 2018 when they lost to the St. Albert Slash.
The Stars have played against both teams at the Esso Cup and lost to both of them.
Most recently, the Stars faced the Steelers on Wednesday night when they blew a 3-0 lead and lost 4-3 in overtime to the Steelers. The Steelers had a record of 1-2-2-0 in the tournament.
A day earlier on Tuesday, the Stars and Junior Oilers faced off, and the Oilers won 4-3 in a shootout. The Junior Oilers were the only undefeated team at the Esso Cup with a 5-0 record.
