Crossing the midway point of the regular-season schedule over the weekend, the Home Hardware Midget AAA Legionnaires split a home set with the Saskatoon Contacts.

Playing games 23 and 24 of their 44 game schedule, the Legionnaires earned a 5-3 win on Saturday, falling 5-2 to the Contacts on Sunday at the iPlex.

Saturday's game saw a 2-2 draw through 20 minutes, as Swift Current and Saskatoon traded goals. Jaxon Martens and Mason Strutt (short-handed) both put one on the board for the Legionnaires.

After a scoreless second frame, the Legionnaires used another special-teams goal from Strutt to take the lead in the third. The Estevan product buried one on the powerplay just under six minutes into the frame.

Reed Jacobson made it a 4-2 lead with just under seven minutes remaining - a lead that stood until the game neared the final minute.

The Contacts managed to trim their deficit to just one goal with 1:04 left. But, Jacobson scored his second of the third period with the Contacts' cage empty, and only 30 seconds to go to seal the win.

Ethan Hein made 32 saves in the Legionnaires' victory, while Strutt (2 G, 1 A), Boston Bird (3 A), Jacobson (2 G), and Hendrik DeKlerk (2 A) tallied multi-point efforts.

Onto Sunday afternoon's matchup at the iPlex, the Legionnaires and Contacts had a lower-scoring start to close the weekend.

The Contacts scored once in the first - the game's lone goal through 40 minutes.

Again, Jacobson struck in the third period, putting one past Contacts' netminder Cole Johnston to tie the game up at one apiece.

Swift then grabbed the lead with a shade under 15 minutes to go, as captain Lucas Ochitwa rifled one home from the point on the powerplay.

Cue a late burst by the Contacts - scoring just 21 and 61 seconds later, Saskatoon leapt over the Legionnaires for the late lead.

They'd add a fourth with seven minutes remaining, adding the fifth-and-final with 1:07 left and the net empty.

"Well I don't think it was our best hockey, that's for sure. We needed a little bit more from everybody today, just to keep it steady and create some opportunities and that," said Legionnaires head coach Darren Evjen. "Disappointing to drop the game today, but the Contacts played a good game, and they deserve the two points."

Rookie netminder Jacob Herman was peppered with 42 shots, stopping 38 in the loss.

After the Legionnaires surrendered four unanswered to close Sunday, Evjen said his short-handed squad just needed to be a bit sharper in the details.

"I think a lot of it was just the little things like where we could have got some pucks deep and did the right thing, we turned some pucks over - those came the other way and some pucks went in the net. I think that's the biggest thing, just the responsibility."

Jacobson and Ochitwa each had a goal and assist, while Boston Bird added two more assists on Sunday to give him a team-high five points in the home stand.

For Bird, it was his fourteenth game out of the last 15 finding the stat sheet. Aside from a scoreless game against the Notre Dame Hounds, Bird has racked up eight goals and 19 assists over that stretch, dating back to October 20.

Now, the Legionnaires (17-6-0-1) close out the 2018 portion of the regular season with a stretch of three home games in four days. That starts with a contest this Saturday against the Moose Jaw Generals (7-16-2-1).

"Really for us, after playing this many games, it's about where we're at," said Evjen. "I don't care if we play the Blazers, Moose Jaw, or whoever. It's about how we're playing, and I didn't think we were at par today, but sometimes you get those games and you've just got to find ways to win. We did that (Saturday), but we just didn't have enough today."

That game gets underway December 15 at 8 p.m. from the iPlex.