Coming off a narrow margin of defeat at the hands of the visiting Saskatoon Blazers Friday night at the Innovation Credit Union iPlex, the Home Hardware Midget AAA Legionnaires put together another polished performance, this time coming out handily on top.

Swift showed resiliency against the top team in the SMAAAHL, earning a 5-2 victory in front of the home crowd.

For the second night in a row the Legionnaires jumped out to the early lead - the only difference in Saturday's contest was that lead was never handed back to the dynamic Blazers squad.

Rookie blueliner Joe Arntsen ripped home the opening goal just 58 seconds into the game.

After the Blazers answered on the powerplay, the Legionnaires responded with two on the man-advantage of their own.

Reed Jacobson scored with just under eight minutes remaining in the first, while Logan Linklater put home the team's third and his third of the weekend with just 19 seconds on the clock.

Saskatoon capitalized on the 5-on-4 once again, but that was as close as they'd get - forwards Boston Bird and Rhett Evjen each chipped home goals to close the second period, and the scoring in the game.

"I thought we played really well last night, and I thought we did that again," said Legionnaires head coach Darren Evjen. " I thought there was a couple things we needed to do today - our discipline, our PK we needed to make some adjustments, and I thought we did a good job of that. Our compete I think was very similar to yesterday, it just was those little tweaks that the guys did, and they executed them."

"We end up with a big 5-2 win, and that's pretty good - top two teams splitting like that, that's usually what should happen with two good teams."

Rookie goalie Jacob Herman was making his fourth-consecutive start for Swift, stopping 20 of 22 Saskatoon shots for his biggest W of the season.

Meanwhile on the offensive end, it was another showcase of the kind of balanced scoring the team is capable of producing, as goals came from rookies, defencemen, first-liners, and fourth-liners.

"All around we have a very strong, veteran team, and we've got some younger guys too that are very skilled," said alternate captain Christian Albertson. "We're a very strong team I think in that department."

Linklater added an assist for a two-point night, as did Bird, while Mason Strutt has his second-straight game with a pair of assists.

Though the veteran Albertson was held to just an assist over the two-game set, Saturday's contest was a big game for the physical forward. The Saskatoon product spent the 2017-18 season with the Blazers, recording seven goals and 14 points over 43 games.

Christian Albertson got to play twice at home against his former team (photo by Eric James)

"It's really awesome - it's very mentally tough, but it feels good to beat them," he said, noting it was important to try and treat this opponent as he would any other.

"More so just trying to stay calm, and not let my emotions get the best of me so we can capitalize on opportunities that they give us."

"We play as a team, we stay together," added Evjen on Albertson, and the team's performance. "You never know what it's going to look like, but it just goes to show you when you get out there with five guys and you play as a five-man unit, good things happen when you play the right way. That's what we had today, and that's just a positive for our hockey team."

Part of that effective team-play came in the form of a dominant shot-blocking effort in the defensive zone.

Despite the Blazers controlling the puck in Swift's end for a tremendous amount of the third period, the Legionnaires didn't budge, allowing only five shots in the frame.

"Our D have blocked shots all year, but our forwards had to dive into that. We talked about it all week that we had to do more," said Evjen. "That's part of it, and it's not the fun part. But, I thought this weekend they bought in 100%. They ate a lot of pucks, and that makes a big difference."

Another full week of practice is ahead for the second-place Legionnaires, providing plenty of time to stay rested, and ready for another premiere match-up.

The Legionnaires have just one game this next weekend, when they venture out on the road to take on the 7-2-0-0 Notre Dame Hounds.

"You want to play good teams every night, just like this, it makes you better," said the Legionnaires' head coach.

"It pushes you to play the right way, and it teaches you how deep you've got to get in every game. We haven't had many nights off. We've had to play all the top teams now - we've played two games against a team not in the playoffs. The rest have been against the top six. It makes us better - it pushes you to be more consistent, to do everything a little bit more to win every night."

Swift is at Duncan McNeill Arena in Wilcox taking on the Hounds November 17 at 5 p.m.