Members of the Meadow Lake U18A Stampeders pose for a team photo after defeating Martensville 5-4 in Game 2 and winning 1-0 in overtime in a deciding mini-game to capture the North Final at the Meadow Lake Co-op Centre on March 14, 2026. (Image Credit: Kim Kozlowski)

By Kenneth Cheung

LOCAL TALENT

Meadow Lake Stampeders rally past Martensville in OT to win North Final

Mar 25, 2026 | 1:15 PM

The Meadow Lake U18A Stampeders kept their season alive, then kept it rolling.

Trailing 4-2 entering the third period, Meadow Lake scored three times to defeat Martensville 5-4 in Game 2 on March 14, then won 1-0 in overtime after a scoreless deciding mini-game to capture the North Final and advance to the provincial championship.

Forward Cache Prete scored the unassisted overtime winner, capping a comeback that head coach Kim Kozlowski called the high point of his team’s season.

“Definitely the highlight for us was that Northern Provincial Final win in the way we did it,” Kozlowski said.

Meadow Lake appeared headed for elimination when it entered the third period down by two, but Kozlowski said his players never treated the moment like the end.

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“It would have been just as easy for the kids to say, ‘You know what, this is it. It was a good season. You know, we’re packing up and going home,’ but they decided not to.”

Instead, the Stampeders pushed back.

“They came back in that third period with everything they had,” Kozlowski recalled. “We won that game and then they won, with their will and determination in overtime.”

The comeback was the clearest example yet of how far Meadow Lake had come since the start of the season.

Kozlowski said the Stampeders started last October with “a lot of new faces” in the U18A group and spent much of the season searching for consistency.

“We had a bit of an up and down season,” he said.

That began to change around mid-February, when the group started to better understand what was needed to win. 

“It just seemed like the guys were starting to kind of catch on to what they needed to do to be successful on the ice,” Kozlowski said.

He said the turnaround did not come from anything dramatic, but from players committing to harder, simpler hockey and buying into a team game.

“When you start doing some of those things that are sort of outside of what you want to do, particularly as an individual, you start playing more as a team,” Kozlowski said. “I think that’s when the team starts to realize some success.”

That belief has carried through their quest for the provincial title, even after Meadow Lake dropped Game 1 of the best-of-three final 5-1 to Prairie Storm Lightning in Balgonie on March 21.

Kozlowski said the Stampeders came away from that loss with a better read on their opponent and a clearer sense of what they need to do in Game 2, set for March 28 at 2 p.m. at Moeller Hometown Arena in the Meadow Lake Co-op Centre. If necessary, Game 3 would follow on home ice.

“We’ve learned from that loss as well,” he said.

Kozlowski said his players are still drawing confidence from the comeback against Martensville.

“They still believe in themselves that they can pull this off,” he said.

Whatever happens next, Kozlowski said the run has already become something his players should remember.  

“I would consider it a success for these kids regardless of how we make out on Saturday in the final,” he said. 

“I think the kids have had a great year and something they should look back on with pride.”

—

Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com