The Portage Islanders evened the South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League Championship best-of-seven series up at 3-3 last night. They took out the Hawks 6-2 in front of the home crowd at Stride Place in Game 6.

"I thought it was do-or-die and we all came out for it," says Islander Jordyn Boyd, who finished the night with a hat trick. "We were short for bodies and were pretty much rolling two lines, so we really got into the game. It was nice for me to get three (goals) without having to shoot on the goalie once. It was pretty easy," he laughs. "We have to come out in Game 7 and leave everything on the line because we have nothing to save it for now."

The Hawks were on the board first in Game 6. Matt Gingera scored on the powerplay to take the initial lead five minutes in with Brody Chabert and Steve Clark notching assists on the goal. The Islanders responded quickly with a goal of their own. Jordyn Boyd scored an unassisted marker just over a minute later to tie the game at one off a broken play behind the Hawks' net. Dan Leslie would make it 2-1 Islanders a little later on in the period, and they would hold that lead into the second. Chris Reykdal picked up the only assist on the Leslie goal.

It only took the Hawks five minutes to even the game in the middle period. Paul Chanel got the goal while Chris and Jean Prejet picked up the assists. Islander forward Eric DeLong netted the go-ahead goal, and game winner, with six minutes to go in the frame. Leslie notched his second point of the night on the DeLong goal, Tanner Blight also picked up an assist. Portage held the one-goal lead into the final period.

The third period was wide open with both teams earning a powerplay opportunity in the first 10 minutes, but neither could capitalize with the extra man. Islander Dan Leslie netted his second goal, and third point of the night, from the centre ice line to make it 4-2 with just over six minutes to play. He dumped a backhand on net that fooled Brett Timmerman on the glove side and says he never expected it to go in.

"No definitely not," laughs Leslie. "Goalie was kind of just sitting on his line and it just got a crazy bounce. Luckily it went in because we needed it to extend the lead. Every game has been a battle, we're down a few men but we expect a few back for Game 7 and it's looking good. It should be a good show."

Jordyn Boyd would add two empty-net goals to complete his hat-trick with just over a minute to play. The Islanders' defence held the Hawks at bay for the remainder of the period to close out the game at 6-2.

"You know we came out strong but we just didn't get the right bounces," says Hawks' goal scorer Matt Ginger, who credits Steve Clark as the actual goal scorer. "They scored the one goal that was a misplay behind the net and that kind of seemed to deflate us. Then the other one where it bounced over Timmerman, that shot from the red line, it didn't do us any favours here."

He's expecting an even more physical game in Game 7. Hawks' Captain Steve Clark talks about the series going the distance.

"It's been a tight series all the way through. They went up 2-0 and we came back to win three, that's why these are seven game series. It's two pretty evenly matched teams so it should be fun on Tuesday."

Game 7 is Tuesday in Notre Dame.