Warriors edge Privateers on late Beaulne score

CORNWALL ISLAND, ONT –  Third period comebacks were the hallmark of the Thousand Islands Privateers all season long and it held true in game one of the FHL North division finals. It was up to Coach Angelo Sanseverino and his Akwesasne Warriors to find a way to buck the trend in a close game.
Mission accomplished.
Led by the twin two-goal performances of Miguel Delisle and Dan Tessier, the Warriors used their own third period comeback to defeat the Privateers 5-4 in game three of the best-of-five series Sunday night at the Turtle Dome. Akwesasne now leads the series two wins to one and can secure a trip to the FHL championship series with a victory in game four on Friday.
Martin Beaulne scored the game-winning goal with less than four minutes left in regulation,

capping a run of three unanswered scores for the Warriors as they became the first home team to win a game in the series. It also spoiled the two goal and three point game posted by Thousand Islands’ forward Ryan Pearson in defeat.
The 371 fans who filed into the Turtle Dome had to be expecting yet another shootout as the two teams had combined for 17 goals in the first two battles. They weren’t disappointed as Akwesasne converted an early first period man advantage. Ahmed Mahfouz started the play by feeding the puck back to Tessier at the point for a shot. Privateers’ net minder Richard Sillery went to make the save but Delisle helped it past the goalie for the game’s opening score.
Thousand Islands coach Mike Elberty knew that after Saturday night’s blowout in game two, his team could not afford to let the Warriors get too far away. His charges answered the early Akwesasne goal with one of their own at the 9:06 mark when Pearson banged home a pass from Justin Levac before getting popped by Tessier. The rest of the period was a battle between Sillery and Akwesasne’s David Plouffe in the nets. Both were perfect and the period ended with the teams tied at one.
The host Warriors came out of the locker room flying to start the second stanza. Tessier notched his first goal of the game 37 seconds in on a feed from Mahfouz to once again put Akwesasne ahead. Just as they had in the first, Thousand Islands had an answer and again it was Pearson who tied the score.
Pearson’s second seemed to boost the confidence of the visitors. The Privateers continued to pressure Plouffe and the Akwesasnedefense and it worked to perfection at the 5:14 mark when Adam McAllister turned a Pearson cross-crease pass into a goal that put Thousand Islands ahead 3-2.
Three consecutive power play opportunities allowed the Privateers to keep the Warriors on the defensive but Plouffe, just as he was a night before, threw up a brick wall. Sillery stopped everything he saw after the early Tessier goal, sending the contest to the final period with Thousand Islands up 3-2.
Thinking they could put the game away with their typical strong third period, the Privateers pushed to extend the lead. They accomplished their goal at the 4:21 mark when Alex Goupil and Will LaPorte combined to set up Tyler Fernandez to make it 4-2.
Seconds later, the game turned around when Thousand Islands’ Brian Marks took a penalty. Moments later, Delisle broke down the right side and ripped a shot past Sillery for his second of the night andcutting the margin to 4-3. One minute later, Tessier converted his own rebound in front into a score, tying the game at four and sending the Warriors fans into a frenzy.
Beaulne took a cross-checking penalty just before the nine minute mark of the period, giving Thousand Islands its best shot to get back in front. While they pressed the issue, the Warriors defense, which had been porous in game one, found itself and kept the Privateers at bay but momentum was with the visitors.
Then with the clock slowly winding down, Beaulne, who had been moved back to the blue line by Sanseverino, saw an opportunity and took it. He went coast-to-coast, winding his way past several Privateer defenders before putting a move on Sillery and scoring what would prove to be the game winner.
“I went down to two lines (in the third period). I brought him (Beaulne)from the forwards and (put) him back to defense so I had always basically four forwards on the ice,” Sanseverino said about switching Beaulne to the back line. “I just changed it up a little bit and we were successful. He (Beaulne) played very well.”
Sanseverino hopes that his squad can take the momentum from the back-to-back wins into Friday’s game at Bonnie Castle, knowing that a win would give his team the series and some time to rest.
“They’re a tough team. They keep coming at you,” Sanseverino said about the Privateers. “You can never count them out. They’ve got a lot of talent and they’ve got a lot of character. They’re good hockey players. I’ll take nothing away from them – they play hard.”
Game Notes: Akwesasne finally showed its high-powered power play off, scoring twice in four chances. Thousand Islands continued to struggle, going 0-4…The Privateers played without standout defenseman Mike Byrd in their lineup. In fact, Thousand Islands dressed only 13 skaters for the game…Delisle and Beaulne combined for 14 shots on net while the Privateers duo of Goupil and Fernandez totaled 13 shots between them…Tessier, Mahfouz and Delisle each had three points for the Warriors while Pearson did the same for Thousand Islands.
Contact the author at wendy.hull@prohockeynews.com