A tale of two halves nearly saw a comeback win, but the Home Hardware Midget AAA fell just short, losing 5-4 in overtime to the visiting Notre Dame Hounds last night.

Getting heavily out-chanced in the first period, the Legionnaires did, however, jump out to an early lead, as Jaxon Martens put home the game's first goal.

Two minutes later, it was a 1-1 - a score that held up into the first intermission.

That's when special teams goals started to pile up quickly.

The Hounds scored 2:43 into the second on the power play. Then, two minutes after that, Notre Dame increased the lead to a sizable three-goal margin on two quick short-handed goals 22 seconds apart on the same shift.

That sparked a timeout to be called by the Legionnaires, along with a change in net. After the brief 30-second break, it was all Legionnaires for the remainder of regulation.

"Well the first period, they just ran over top of us physically - we didn't have an answer for them," said Legionnaires head coach Darren Evjen. "The second period, same thing. It was eventually going to get out of hand. After that (timeout), we start playing, and I thought we were the better team. We started pushing back, playing like we can, and the pendulum swung the other way."

Swift Current needed just 20 seconds to cut the deficit to two, as Logan Linklater scored the third goal on their power play - though the first two were the aforementioned short-handed efforts prior to the timeout.

Legionnaires leading scorer Mason Strutt then gave Swift a shorty of their own to make it a 4-3 game, and close scoring in the second period.

That mark would stand until over 14 minutes into the third period, where a sixth-consecutive special teams goal was buried - this time, it was Legionnaires defenceman Hendrik DeKlerk on the power play.

"We just came out on the breakout, and Reich gave me a pass, I fed it outside to Strutty, who made a nice, soft little play to the middle," DeKlerk explained. "I got it, was thinking about passing it, but then I just saw the open net, thought I should take the shot, and went in."

Erasing the three-goal deficit to force overtime was the latest showcase of character for the gritty Legionnaires, as they held the Hounds to a mere four shots in the final frame of regulation.

"One of the good things about us is it's been like that the whole year - we never stop pushing till the end of the game, we're always going, our third periods have always been good," said DeKlerk. "But, I think we've got to be a little bit more consistent, that way we don't fall behind as often."

Into the 3-on-3 overtime frame, just 52 seconds were needed, as a Hounds breakaway was tucked five-hole for the game-winner. 

The Legionnaires out-shot the Hounds 23-22 in the game. Jacob Herman came on in relief of Ethan Hein after the second-period timeout, stopping eight of nine shots he faced.

Meanwhile on the offensive end, Strutt added two assists for a game-high three points. Linklater added an assist, with a pair of helpers coming from Kersey Reich for the other multi-point nights.

Now with three days until they're back in action, the Legionnaires' bench boss said that just continuing to strive for a steady 60 minutes, and no feeling-out process will be at the forefront.

"It's mentally, these guys as young players having that ability to dive into playing in a hard game right off the bat. That's the learning curve for young players - their consistency. When they get to be about 19, they get to be a lot more consistent, they prepare a lot better. But, that's part of it, they've got to grow as a player and as a team, and you learn that every game is hard."

Swift Current (21-10-1-1) now sits six points up on the Hounds (17-10-2-2-) and in fourth place, though Notre Dame has two games in hand.

The Legionnaires host the Battlefords Stars (9-20-0-2) twice this weekend at the iPlex.

Saturday's game gets underway at 8 p.m., with Sunday's set for 1:45 p.m.