The Morris Mavericks and Morden Thunder are into round two of the Zone 4 High School Hockey League playoffs and the Pembina Tigers have forced a deciding third game in their series with Northlands Parkway.


Mavericks 3 Cougars 2 (OT)
Justin Keck scored his second goal of the game 48 seconds into overtime to lift Morris past the Cougars 3-2 in Carman Wednesday night. Max Collette had the other goal for the Mavericks who swept the best-of-three quarterfinal in two games straight. Campbell Ens and Scott Atkins replied for the Cougars. Morris goaltender Sean Penner made 32 saves while Carman's Alex Clemis faced 35 shots.

Thunder 6 Mustangs 5
Andrew Boucher had two goals and an assist as the Thunder defeated Prairie Mountain 6-5 in Morden. Cameron Brunn, Jaidon Lawson, Justin Hobbs and Derek Wiebe also scored for the three-time defending champions who took that series in two straight. Kyle Devos had a hat trick for the Mustangs while singles went to Merek DeGraeve and Luke Van De Velde. Prairie Mountain erased a 6-2 deficit scoring three times in a four minute span of the third period but couldn't get the equalizer past Thunder goaltender Owen Dimitruk who made 31 saves. Mustangs netminder Remy Bosc faced 40 shots.

Tigers 3 Nighthawks 1
Allister McNabb scored the go-ahead goal 5:25 into the third period and Sam Wetstein added an insurance marker with 8:44 remaining as Pembina beat Northlands Parkway 3-1 in Pilot Mound. That series is tied at a game a piece. Kyle Livingstone also scored for the Tigers who received a 21-save performance from Tanner Harms. Dustin Wall had the lone goal for the Nighthawks. NPC netminder Tyler Fehr faced 27 shots. The deciding third game goes Saturday in Winkler.

The Miller Aces face the Garden Valley Zodiacs tonight (6:15 p.m.) in Winkler in game two of their series. The Aces downed the Zodiacs 9-4 Monday night in Altona in game one.

photos courtesy Laurie Keck