Hounds never lost heart against Pat Canadians
The Notre Dame Hounds’ dogged determination paid off.
After losing 5-0 at home to the Regina Pat Canadians on Monday, Notre Dame rebounded with a 5-2 road victory in Wednesday’s fifth and deciding game of a Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League semifinal.
“We didn’t bring our best game (on Monday) and we knew that we weren’t going to go down without a fight,” Hounds forward Keaton Sorensen said Wednesday. “We wanted to give everything we’ve got and finish this off.”
Sorensen scored the key goal, snapping a 2-2 tie with 1:51 remaining in the third period before a near-capacity crowd at the 1,400seat Co-operators Arena.
Notre Dame added back-toback empty-net goals to advance to the league’s championship series against the Saskatoon Blazers. Game 1 is set for Saturday, 7:30 p.m., at Rod Hamm Arena in Saskatoon.
The Blazers, who finished third in the regular-season standings with a 31-10-0-3 record, eliminated the second-seeded Tisdale Trojans (32-7-4-1) in the other semifinal.
Fourth-place Notre Dame (2812-2-2) bounced the first-place Pat Canadians (33-7-2-2), thanks in large part to two victories in Regina.
“It just speaks to the players’ character and their focus,” said Devan Praught, who coached the Hounds to the 2018 Saskatchewan and Canadian midget AAA titles.
“It’s a determined bunch. There are guys who have been there and want to get there again, and we have a lot of guys who are hungry to get there for the first time.”
Coalson Wolford and Will Lavigne scored first-period goals for Notre Dame on Wednesday. Kyle Forster and Logen Hammett tallied for Regina.
After Hammett sniped with 4:18 remaining in the first period, the game was scoreless for 42:27. Josselin Dufey and Jake Dale scored the empty-netters to leave the Pat Canadians with an empty feeling.
“I’m proud of the guys and the way we played,” Pat Canadians head coach Darrin Mckechnie said. “We didn’t have our best effort (in Game 5), which is disappointing, but it probably has more to do with Notre Dame and what they did than maybe what we didn’t do.”
Notre Dame won six of nine meetings with Regina this season but, as Praught put it, “the degree of separation is so small.”
“It was fitting,” he added.
“It came down to the final minutes.”