2008 National U18 Club Championship

FAST START LEADS THRASHERS TO GOLD MEDAL GAME

All week, Winnipeg Thrashers head coach Kevin Benson has been telling his team that they need to start fast.

On Saturday, they listened.

Mark Stone and Michael Hay scored 22 seconds apart within the game’s first 2:12, and Stone added a powerplay goal late in the opening period, as the Thrashers advanced to Sunday’s gold medal game at the 2008 TELUS Cup with a 4-1 win over the Séminaire Saint-François Blizzard.

The win makes Winnipeg the fifth straight West Region champion to advance to the TELUS Cup gold medal game, and the Thrashers will attempt to become the fifth straight to win the National Midget Championship when they face the winner of the Sudbury/Calgary semi-final on Sunday afternoon (4:00 p.m. ET).

The Thrashers jumped on the Blizzard early, as Stone picked up a dump-in off the end boards and batted it past Saint-François goaltender Jean-Phillipe Gagnon for a 1-0 lead.

The large contingent of Winnipeg family and friends in attendance at the Nick Smith Centre had not even returned to their seats when Matt Garvey’s shot got through Gagnon, and Hay was there to poke it in for a 2-0 lead.

Hall and Stone, who have combined for 24 points in six games this week, went to work late in the period on a Winnipeg powerplay, as Hall fed Stone at the point, and his shot along the ice eluded Gagnon for a 3-0 lead, ending the night of the Blizzard netminder.

Jean-Michel Fortier played well in relief of Gagnon, particularly in the second period when the Thrashers held a 13-6 advantage in shots on goal but could not extend their lead.

The Blizzard tried to make a comeback in the third period, starting with Dave Leclerc’s goal 2:28 into the final frame, but Winnipeg goaltender Brett Martyniuk and the Thrashers defence shut down the Blizzard offence, holding them to just four shots.

Winnipeg captain Mat Bodie, named the 2008 TELUS Cup MVP and Best Defensive Player at Friday night’s awards banquet, put the game away in the dying minutes, keeping on a two-on-one and beating Fortier.

Bodie picked up his player of the game honours for the Thrashers – the second time in three games he was honoured – while Jean-Phillipe Mathieu received the award for the Blizzard, who will play for the bronze medal for the second straight year on Sunday (10:00 a.m. ET).