An exciting four-goal third period led the Portage Collegiate Institute (PCI) Saints to victory over Fort Richmond Collegiate (FRC) in the Winnipeg Women's High School Hockey League (WWHSHL) playoffs. They won the best-of-three series 2-1 over the 10th ranked team with Thursday's 4-1 comeback win at the BDO Centre in Portage la Prairie.

"There wasn't any panic when it was 1-0 FRC heading into the third, there was desperation, but there wasn't any panic," says head coach Jo-Anne Clark-Gillespie. "I think the girls knew that once they got one goal and tied it up that we would be in control. We totally shut them down offensively after they scored too, and the puck control that we have, I don't think there's any team that can control the puck as well as we do."

The Saints found themselves down one early into the first period. FRC star Hannah Pales found a loose puck and slid it home to take the lead. Portage seemed to be gripping their sticks a little too tightly through the first 20 minutes.

"We were getting the puck to the net but there were no rebounds because we weren't shooting with a purpose, shooting hard. We were just shovelling the puck to the net," says Clark-Gillespie. "The third period was way different, we started shooting with a purpose, shooting for rebounds and looking for rebounds. Our powerplay goal in the third was perfect."

The nervous play continued from the Saints in the second. They managed to keep FRC off the board through the frame but couldn't find a way to even the game at one.

PCI came out in the third with speed and the game changed :15 seconds in. Hailee Morisseau found the back of the net to tie the game at one, and that's when the momentum shifted in the Saints' favour. They continued to control things for the first half of the final period, spending six minutes straight in their opponent's end. Their attack drew an FRC penalty and Kiera Shwaluk scored the eventual game-winner from the point. Her sisters Paige and Maddie picked up the assists on the goal. 

Saints captain Bailey Grantham made it 3-1. She walked out from the corner and buried one under the FRC netminder's blocker. Morgan Parynuik would add one more late to make it 4-1, she banged home a Grantham rebound laying on the goal line. Parynuik played a huge role for the Saints, shadowing FRC's star goal scorer.

"If you're looking for how to shadow a player you could have just videotaped her last two games," laughs Clark-Gillespie. "She did a great job for someone who was just verbally told what to do, and how to do it. She's such a smart player, and she's got the skills with her speed and skating that she can do that, but the team really picked it up on (Pales) as well. It was a total team effort which was nice to see."

With their first place finish the Saints home advantage will extend all the way to the final series. Third place Sturgeon Heights was eliminated by Garden City, and eighth place Beliveau leads their series over second place River East 1-0. The second round will begin next week.