2008 National U18 Club Championship

SPECIAL TEAMS LEAD WOLVES TO GOLD MEDAL GAME

For the first time since 1997, the Central Region champions will play for gold at the National Midget Championship.

Mathieu Lecours, Devin Lockeyer and Denis Restoule scored on the powerplay and Deven Stillar and P.J. Taus scored shorthanded as the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves registered all of their goals on special teams in a 5-2 win over the Calgary Buffaloes on Saturday night in their 2008 TELUS Cup semi-final.

The Wolves – who played in the gold medal game in 1998 when they hosted the tournament – will play for the national championship against the Winnipeg Thrashers on Sunday afternoon (4:00 p.m. ET).

On the shot clock, it was the Buffaloes who had the big advantage, outshooting Sudbury 21-11 through the opening 40 minutes and 28-21 overall, and the Pacific Region champions opened the scoring when Adam Thompson blasted a shot from the point past Sudbury netminder Christopher McDougall on a Calgary powerplay just past the midway point of the first period.

It didn’t take the Wolves long to pull even once the puck dropped to kick off the second period, however, as Lecours – named Top Forward of the tournament at Friday’s awards banquet – took a cross-crease pass from Stillar and deposited the puck into the open goal.

Opening the third period in a 1-1 tie, Lockeyer picked up a rebound in front of Calgary goaltender Kris Moore – the Top Goaltender of the 2008 TELUS Cup – and gave Sudbury their first lead of the game at 2-1, and Restoule made it a two-goal lead just five minutes later.

The Buffaloes caught a break with less than five minutes to go, as the Wolves were whistled for two minor penalties at the same time, handing Calgary a five-on-three powerplay.

Riley Reinbolt cut the lead back down to one just 22 seconds into the two-man advantage, slipping the puck past McDougall after a scramble in the Sudbury crease.

But with Calgary pressuring for the tying goal on the same powerplay, Stillar intercepted a pass at the Buffaloes’ blueline and snapped a puck upstairs on Moore, putting the game out of reach before Taus scored into an empty net in the dying seconds.

Hayden Rintoul was named player of the game for the Buffaloes, while Stillar was a deserving recipient of the award for Sudbury.

Calgary will meet Séminaire Saint-François in the bronze medal game on Sunday morning (11:00 a.m. ET) ahead of the championship game, which can be seen on TSN beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET.