The EnCana Midget Wings did a lot of trading goals back and forth this weekend, as they played a pair of games with Balgonie and Caronport that ended in identical 5-4 scores.

The first game was against Caronport, which started with the Wings' opponents scoring first; the two sides played tit-for-tat for the rest of the game until Caronport scored their fifth goal with just 17 seconds left in the third.

The game with Balgonie on Saturday was much the same, except that Weyburn had the final goal in the third period to win the match.

The Wings started off the New Year with a tournament in Medicine Hat, Alta., where they went undefeated in four games to take first place. On the road to the championship game, they faced and defeated Strathmore 4-3, Taber 5-1 and the Saskatoon Flyers 7-0.

In the final they went up against the hometown Medicine Hat team, defeating them 6-4.

Leading up to that tournament, the month of December proved to be a good one for the Midget Wings. They started out in a tie with Swift Current and then rattled off three wins over Yorkton, Melville and Balgonie. They yielded their only loss of the month to the league-leading Estevan Bruins, in a 6-3 decision against Radville.

On Dec. 21, they traveled back to Yorkton to hand their Terriers another loss, this time defeating them 4-1.

The most controversial game of the month was then played the following day against Melville. Both teams battled hard and the game was deadlocked at 2-2 late in the third period, when the Wings finally scored to take the lead with just three minutes left.

Melville's coach then called for a stick measurement on Weyburn, which proved to be successful; the referee rescinded the Weyburn goal and placed Melville on the power play. Melville scored on their opportunity and the game ended with Melville holding a 3-2 lead.

This call has since been reviewed by league officials, because the referee's call was in error; the stick measurement call cannot be made on the same play a goal is scored, and Melville should have had to wait for another stoppage in play to request the stick measurement.

As a result, the game has since been reviewed and, based on the SouthSask league standings, a 3-3 tie has been awarded to the teams.

The controversy did not affect the Wings in their final two games of 2002, as they downed Moose Jaw 8-5 on Dec. 28 and Balgonie 6-2 on Dec. 29.

Weyburn's record after 27 games stands at 15-7-5, putting them in third place of the SouthSask Hockey League. The Wings face Estevan and the Pipestone Valley Jets in home action this week.