The Home Hardware Midget AAA Legionnaires polished off an impressive regular season with a 3-2 win over the first-place Notre Dame Hounds on Sunday.

The win was the lone victory for the Legionnaires against the Hounds this season, and just Notre Dame's second regulation loss all year.

The weekend contest started out where, despite getting out-shot 15-4, neither team could capitalize on quality scoring chances, going scoreless through 20 minutes.

"There isn't much room out there for either team, and we've got to maintain where we're at, and keep playing off the puck really well, and that will generate our offence," said Legionnaires head coach Darren Evjen, on his message to the team during the first intermission.

"Don't get frustrated, because it is hard, we're not going to get a ton of chances. It's going to be one of those games that you just have to stay in your game for 60 minutes and play."

The second period would prove to be the best 20 minute frame by far, as Rin Beny opened scoring in the game five minutes in, taking passes from Owen Ozar and Jaden Wake, and burying the puck past Hounds' goalie Aaron Randazzo.

The Hounds would respond three minutes later, but the period belonged to the Legionnaires. With 9:13 left in the period, Jacob Piller was set up by Ozar and Mac Gross for a power play goal for a 2-1 lead.

Then, with 6:43 left and back on the man-advantage, Piller was set up by Hunter Lamb for his second power play goal of the period for a 3-1 lead.

The Hounds responded on the power play in the latter stages of the third period for a one-goal game, but despite getting out-chanced 47-16, the Legionnaires pulled off the win with 45 big saves from Cody Levesque.

"Well he's had a good year. He's played well for us, and that's why he came back. He felt he needed to get his game where he wanted it to be, and I think it's there right now," said Evjen of Levesque, who currently sports a 2.51 goals-against-average. "He made some saves (in Sunday's game) when we needed them. That's how you win hockey games - you need good goaltending."

Swift also finished with those two power play goals on just three opportunities in a solid special teams effort to end the regular season.

"We've changed things around, and it's just about getting guys comfortable on both units," Evjen explained. "We talked about shot mentality and getting bodies to the net, and that's what we did. They (the power play goals) were both on rebounds, and Pills puts them in - but it starts with a shot."

It was a momentum-building win for the Legionnaires who, after going winless in five straight games, finished the year with two straights wins including Sunday's big W.

"Well really it just puts you in the right frame of mind," noted Evjen. "We've got some players back now - we still have a few guys out, but our back end got a couple guys back and it's just made a big difference. You win a game like that in Notre Dame and you really solidify mentally that it doesn't matter who it is, if you go out and play 60 minutes the right way, we can win."

Finishing in fifth place in the SMAAAHL with a record of 26-13-1-4, the Legionnaires now look to a first-round matchup with the fourth-place Tisdale Trojans.

Despite sweeping the season series with wins of 3-2 (OT), 5-0, 4-2, and 2-1, the Legionnaires bench boss knows how even the match up is.

"You can say you won four games against them, but the reality when you break it down, three were one-goal games - one was in overtime, and two were the last three minutes of the game (the 4-2 game saw a late empty-net goal). By no means does anybody have an edge, I think it's one of those series - that's why you're 4 and 5, is because you're that close. It will be a tough series, and we've got to just worry about Game 1," said Evjen.

The Legionnaires will be on the road in the northeast for Game 1, although at this time the date of the series-opener is undetermined.