The Home Hardware Midget AAA Legionnaires used a healthy dose of some late-game heroics to bury the Tisdale Trojans in Game 3 of their best-of-five playoff series.

The Legionnaires won 3-2 in overtime, working a late comeback in regulation to take a 2-1 series lead.

Once again, the Legionnaires struck first in the game, as a Mkyllan Couture wrist shot from the point just a shade under six minutes into the game made it 1-0. Christian Riemer and Rhett Gibson were credited with the assists on the play.

That one-goal lead would carry for 20 minutes of the game, until Trojans forward Cade Hayes tied the game up with 13:50 left in the second period. Tisdale’s Zack Smith made it a 2-1 lead just under six minutes to play in the period.

The sluggish frame marked the second-straight game the Legionnaires struggled to find their more common consistent play.

“As a group, we all have to be ready to go in the second period,” said Legionnaires head coach Darren Evjen. “That’s the only way we’re going to get this series, if we play a 60-minute game. If we want to play 50 minutes then we’re spinning the wheel to see if we win.”

Legionnaires captain Owen Ozar echoed his coach’s thoughts, noting that their play early in the third period warranted a game-tying-goal – even if it nearly took the entire period.

“Well we’ve had trouble playing 60 minutes and I think the message in the room there was to come out hard, come out buzzing and just to jump on them early and create chances and I thought we did that. By the end of the period we were just due for a goal,” Ozar said.

That tying goal came with just 12 seconds left in regulation, as Rin Beny and Hunter Lamb were credited with assisting Ozar’s clutch goal.

“I just saw that we kind of scrummed it off the draw – I think I had seen Rin pull it out, the goalie went to put his hand on the puck, he missed it, and I just grabbed it and went backhand – I was excited… pretty dead tired,” explained Ozar.

“Yeah, it’s crazy,” added fellow forward Mason Strutt. “When Ozar buried that, I think a lot of the boys were pretty shell-shocked. It gave us so much energy, and it gave us a lot of push to go into OT and win it.”

The Estevan-born Strutt would go on to score the game-winner, but he says a lot of the team’s momentum heading into the 10-minute extra frame came from hearing the thunderous Trojans’ crowd quieted after Ozar’s goal.

“I mean it’s always great to hear the away crowd be silenced by a goal, and it gave the boys a lot of energy to hear not a lot of cheers from the home crowd.”

Nearing the midway point of the first overtime period, Strutt buried a puck past Tisdale netminder Tanner Martin with 5:38 on the clock. Lamb and Jacob Piller recorded helpers on the winner.

“We went into their end on the forecheck, and it kind of went to a scrum, we came out with it, and Lamb just kind of threw it out front where I was relatively alone,” described Strutt. “I tried to backhand it in up high but that didn’t work and it went off his pad. Then it went to my forehand and I shot it just over his pad and away from his blocker and it just trickled in.”

Cody Levesque performed well in net once again for the Legionnaires in an obviously crucial part of the season. For the third-straight game this series, Levesque let in just two goals.

Facing 21 shots in the game, Levesque now sports an even 2.00 goals-against-average to go along with a sturdy .930 save-percentage in the playoffs.

“Well it’s just such a great feeling to win in overtime,” said Evjen of his team’s all-around effort in the win. “You really don’t have to say anything – you let them enjoy it.

“That’s what hockey does for you that other things can’t – you work so darn hard to win a game, and when you win it in overtime like that, it’s the greatest feeling in the world,” he added.

The series now shifts back to the southwest, with Game 4 not until the late afternoon on Sunday.

Looking to become the first home team to record a win in the series, and with the Trojans pushed to the brink of elimination, the Legionnaires know how important this next contest is.

“I think the key is we’ve just got to stay focused for a full 60 minutes – before the game, intermissions, and all that,” said Ozar, the Legionnaires’ captain. “We can’t get away from playing our game and we can’t focus on the other team as much. We’ve just got to worry about the way we play and how hard we work.”

Puck drop in Game 4 is set for 4:15 p.m. on Sunday from the Innovation Credit Union iPlex.