A pair of weekend wins by the Cougars combined with a pair of loses by the Yellowhead Chiefs allowed the Cougars to grab home ice advantage in the first round were they will face the Chiefs.
Cougars 5 Lightning 3
The Lightning struck first only to have Trevor Hunt tie the score from Matthew Ramsey and Owen Harris. Interlake took the lead back only to have Brayden Knox even the score from Ramsey and Kain Shearer to finish the first tied at 2.
The Lightning grabbed the lead four minutes into the second, but that was their last lead as Hunter Wallace evened the score in the ninth minute and Braeden Lewis found the net 25 seconds later from Jordan Boyechko and Wallace.
Wallace sealed the deal with a shorthanded goal into an empty net, with two minutes left. The Cougars fired 45 shots at Christopher Fines while Kieran Stewart faced 19 shots for the win.
Cougars 4 Winnipeg Bruins 3 in OT
The Bruins struck first, eight minutes into play and held the lead until Luke Robson evened the score from Dexter Whittle on the power play. The teams play a scoreless second.
The third period saw the Cats take the lead at the 3:28 mark. Cody Gudnason got the draw back to Trevor Hunt who moved it over to Braeden Lewis and back to Hunt who one-timed it off the right post to take the lead. Jordan Boyechko tipped the puck in, after 10 minutes of play, from Hunter Wallace and Zach Turner for the 3-1 lead. The Cougars looked to have the game in the bag but the Bruins evened the score with a pair of goals in the last two minutes to send the game to overtime.
Hunt snuck in behind the Bruins defence and tipped the puck in from Lewis and Boyechko three minutes into the extra frame. Eric Reid faced 29 shots for the win while Nikolas Jerris faced 43 in the Bruins net.
The Cougars finished the regular season with a record of 34-12-2 for 70 points and will now face the Yellowhead Chiefs in a best of five, starting Friday night in Souris. Game two will be in Shoal Lake on Sunday with Game three back in Souris on Tuesday.
