The Wilkie Outlaws are into the Sask West Hockey League final series after surviving a scare from the Hafford Hawks.
The Outlaws beat the Hawks 2-1 at home Tuesday to win the best-of-five series 3-2 and advance to face the Macklin Mohawks in the league finals.
The story once again was whether the Outlaws would be able to solve Joel Grzybowski, the SJHL playoff MVP from the 2019 North Stars who now plays for the Hawks. Through the first two periods he was able to hold Wilkie goalless.
Hafford got on the board early in period one with a goal from Kyle Litchenwald from Austin Shumanski and Jeremy Boyer to make it 1-0, and that score held up into the third period.
But Wilkie got two goals midway through the period, one from Kolton Baptiste from Rory Gregoire and Logan Sproule, and the other from Garrett Cameron from Brock Harrison and Derek Keller.
That gave the Outlaws the lead for good. Final shots on goal favored the Outlaws 36-20, with Jared Herle stopping 19 shots for the win.
The Outlaws now look to defend their title against the Mohawks in the finals; dates and times are not yet finalized for that series. Â Â
