LONDON, Ont. – Pierre-Maxime Poudrier put the cap on a wild comeback for UQTR at Thompson Arena Saturday night, scoring 4:21 into overtime to give the Patriotes a 4-3 win over the Western Mustangs and their 10th Queen's Cup in program history.
 
"It was a great hockey game," said Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer. "I thought it was a true championship game down to the last shot. Tough loss for us but really proud of the group and the character they have shown not only all year but especially in this playoff run."
 
Western was just 2:37 away from their fourth ever Queen's Cup in the third before Pierre-Olivier Morin spoiled the party with his fourth goal of the playoffs. Poudrier's overtime winner, his second goal of the game and sixth of the playoffs, marked UQTR's only lead on a night that saw the Mustangs hold the edge for the majority of play.
 
"I feel that we did everything to deserve the game," said Stephen Sanza. "I thought we did everything right—we got the puck in deep, we made smart plays, blocked shots, Dodds played great in net, we didn't take any dumb penalties. I thought we played absolutely fantastic and that's the kind of goal that happens in these games."
 
Western starter Greg Dodds didn't have much of a chance on the final goal, as the puck went off the post before bouncing off the back of his skate and in. It was a rough end to the night for Dodds, who finished with 42 saves including a number of momentum-changing stops.
 
"It's tough," said Dodds after the loss. "We obviously had the game in our hands and just kind of gave it back to them there so not a good feeling."
 
Patriotes backstop Sebastien Auger entered with a .949 save percentage in the playoffs and didn't disappoint either, bouncing back from Western's early goals to put together a solid performance. He finished with 31 saves, 25 of which came in the first two periods. 
 
UQTR came out of the gates hot, applying intense pressure throughout the entire first minute of play to keep the Mustangs on their heels early. The OUA's top team during the regular season looked to have a sure goal on an early two-on-one but Western defenceman Sean Callaghan got his stick on Carl-Antoine Delisle's shot to spoil the chance.
 
Western regrouped quickly, however, and before the 10-minute mark of the first period they were on the board with a goal from Luke Karaim. Sanza had the initial shot on the play before Karaim jumped on the rebound, knocking the puck past a surprised Auger. Minutes later Auger flipped the script on Karaim, denying him a second goal with a beautiful glove save.
 
But the Mustangs would solve Auger again early in the second, as David Corrente added to Western's lead 59 seconds into the frame. Once again, UQTR's backstop lost sight of the puck on the goal, with Corrente lifting the shot over his shoulder as he struggled to find the puck.
 
The Patriotes responded soon after, with Poudrier tipping the puck past Dodds off a point shot from Anthony Verret, but Western would get the last laugh in the period. Robert Polesello doubled Western's lead with under five minutes to play, taking a breakaway pass from Dodds and undressing Auger before going top corner.
 
The third period was a different story. The Patriotes seemed to find their feet once again and returned to the form that helped them dominate the OUA this season, firing 19 shots towards Dodds while allowing just four to reach Auger. The result was a pair of goals, first from Charles-David Beaudoin and the second from Morin, setting the stage for Poudrier's overtime winner.  
 
"I think we were maybe playing not to lose instead of playing to win," responded Dodds when asked about the late shift of momentum. "We kind of let off the gas a little bit and we let them back in the game."  
 
Both teams will now head to the CIS Championship in Halifax, where they'll face off against some of the best teams in Canadian University hockey. Action gets started on Thursday while the championship game is scheduled for Sunday.
 
"We still have a national championship to go and attend and to play well and try to hoist the trophy there," said Singer. "We had a very similar result in 2002, we lost to Trois-Riviere by one goal and a week later we're hoisting the national championship trophy.
 
"You're going to have to be great—there's no room for good anymore," he added. "There are no good teams at nationals, they're all great teams and we're going to have to be outstanding and play our very, very best."
 
NOTES: Both teams played with an edge on Saturday but neither got into any penalty trouble, with each squad giving up just a single man advantage… Guillaume Asselin had two assists on Saturday to finish tied with three other players for the OUA playoff lead with 10. Western's Andrew Goldberg also finished with 10 points in the playoffs… Auger's .943 save percentage was tops in the OUA during the playoffs and no other goalie came close to matching it…