The Regina Pat Canadians took a 2-0 lead against the Moose Jaw Winmar Warriors in the SMAAAHL Final when Liam Pue scored the game-winner in overtime, winning 4-3 on Monday.
"Nathan Gardiner and I were coming down, two-on-one, I noticed the goalie was pretty far out of his net," Pue told SportsCage host Barney Shynkaruk. "The d-man went down, so I cut to the middle and tried to wait him out, and then I found a way into the back of the net."
Before the game went into overtime, Pue already had an idea of what he wanted to do if he scored the game-winner.
"We were in intermission going into overtime, I was like to the boys, 'I got a good feeling. I think I'm gonna put this one in, and I'm gonna do this celly,'" Pue recalled. "I went for it, I did that exact same celly, and all the boys were like, 'Yeah, you called it.'"
That goal marked Pue's fourth in the playoffs, he has played six postseason games and also registered four assists.
It's the second straight year the Pat Canadians have faced off against the Warriors as Regina swept Moose Jaw last year in a best of five.
"Two highly skilled teams, two teams that can work pretty hard. A lot of WHL draft picks on both teams, so everyone is competing, and everyone wants to win," Pue said.
"Last year with Moose Jaw being in the finals, they wanted to probably get back at us because we won it last year, so I think it's two really even teams that have been going back and forth all year."
In the regular season, the teams faced each other four times, with each winning two games. Three out of those four games ended in overtime.
Game three goes Wednesday in Regina at Co-Operators arena No. 6 with puck drop at 7:45 p.m.
“It's very important to get in the home rink in front of the home crowd,” Pue said. “I think it'd be pretty special to get the sweep in C6 so we're hoping for the best.”
