Peguis edges Warriors to win KJHL title

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This article was published 11/04/2018 (2205 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The St. Malo Warriors knew what they had to do keep playing on. Trailing 3-1 in the  Keystone Junior Hockey League final series to the Peguis Juniors, the Warriors were in a must-win situation heading into game five of the series Wednesday night at Peguis.

But the Juniors rallied to eke out a 4-3 victory and win the championship series 4-1.

St. Malo bolted out of the gate, taking a 3-0 lead by the midway point of the opening period as Robert Guimond, Dustin Wiebe and Haden Hildebrand scored their goals in only a three-minute span.

But a shorthanded goal by Peguis late in the first period gave the Juniors life in front of their rabid fans as Peguis would go on to tie it with two unanswered goals in the second. The winner came from Christian Cochrane, with his second of the game, four minutes into the third.

This ended a tremendous playoff run for the Warriors in this post-season. St. Malo finished sixth overall in the KJHL regular season standings this year, but defeated the third-ranked OCN Storm in the quarter-finals, upset the top-ranked Selkirk Fishermen in a seven-game semi-final series, before finally falling to second ranked Peguis in the final.

Both St. Malo and Peguis will now compete in a season-ending tournament billed the Battle of the Border, being played Apr. 19-22 at Thunder Bay.