2008 National U18 Club Championship

LETHAL POWERPLAY LEADS WINNIPEG TO VICTORY OVER SAINT-FRANÇOIS

Down 2-1 after the opening 20 minutes, the Winnipeg Thrashers turned to their powerplay to pull them out of an early hole, and the man advantage unit responded with four goals in the final two periods in a 5-2 Winnipeg win over the Séminaire Saint-François Blizzard on Tuesday.

The win moves the West Region champions to 2-0, with wins over arguably the two favourites coming in to this year’s National Midget Championship – the Thrashers beat Calgary 3-0 on Monday.

Despite getting off to a fast start – Cole Pruden opened the scoring just 2:59 after the opening face-off – Winnipeg trailed after the first period, as Saint-François got goals from Guillaume Bélanger and Dave Leclerc to take a 2-1 lead into the intermission.

But goaltender Brett Martyniuk and the Thrashers defense stood tall over the final 40 minutes, holding the Quebec champions to just 15 shots over the second and third periods.

The Blizzard began to get into penalty trouble early in the middle frame, handing the Thrashers a 5-on-3 advantage that David Conrad would convert, taking a cross-ice feed from Corbin Baldwin – who finished with three assists – and snapping a one-timer past an outstretched Jean-Phillipe Gagnon in the Saint-François goal.

The third period was all Winnipeg, as the Pruden gave the Thrashers their first lead since early on with his second of the game on the powerplay, and Jesse Hall and Michael Hay added man advantage markers in the final 10 minutes to give the Manitobans a little insurance.

Winnipeg finished the third period with a 14-4 advantage in shots on goal, and outshot the Blizzard 32-21 overall.

Pruden was a deserving winner of player of the game honours for the Thrashers, while Patrick Delisle-Houde, one of three members of the Blizzard playing in their second consecutive TELUS Cup, won the award for Saint-François.

Winnipeg looks to all but wrap up a semi-final spot on Wednesday when they face the Atlantic Region champions from Cole Harbour at 4:00 p.m. ET, while the Blizzard will try to return to the win column against Sudbury at 12:00 p.m. ET.