It's all tied up at two.

The Notre Dame Hawks knotted the best-of-seven South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League Championship Final up two games a piece with last night's win over Portage. They beat the Islanders 3-2 in Game 4 to regain their home advantage in the series.

"The boys came out flying, we had a little bit of a slower first but we picked it up in the second and third," says Hawks' netminder Brett Timmerman. "The Islanders are a good team. They have some good players up front and it's a good thing we held on at the end."

It took almost 40 minutes of action before the first goal was registered last night. The Hawks were the first on the board with 6.2 seconds remaining in the middle period. Kyle Rous was able to get one by Islanders' goalie Mitch Wiebe with Chris Prejet and Mitch Chanel picking up the assists.

The Islanders crash into Hawks' netminder Brett Timmerman late in the third to try and force the puck in and tie the game at three. (Photo by Aaron Wilgosh)

The Hawks increased their lead by two early in the third. Colin Fay scored on the powerplay four minutes in to make it 2-0, then Brody Chabbert scored the eventual game-winner three minutes later. Portage came on hard in the final 10 minutes, throwing everything they had at the Hawks' net. Islanders' defenseman Chris Reykdal scored on the powerplay with just over five minutes to play, Eric Delong and Tanner Waldvogel notched the assists. Reykdal would get his second of the night with 49 seconds to go in the game with the net empty. They tried hard to add another but Timmerman shut the door for a Hawks win.

Tanner Waldvogel and Eric DeLong celebrate with Chris Reykdal after he scored his second of the night. (Photo by Aaron Wilgosh)

"I think we definitely turned it on at the end but we had a lot of chances throughout the game that it should have been a different score on the scoreboard," says Reykdal. "I think their goalie has some horseshoes hidden, he made some big saves to keep them in the lead. We pressured them hard but just didn't come out on the right end of it."

"This is why we all play," says Hawks' forward Brody Chabbert. "This is the most fun part of the year and it's a best-of-three for the rest of the way. Luckily now we have home ice advantage again, and it should be a packed house Saturday so I know we're geared up to go."

The Islanders were able to come back and tie the game with the net empty against the Hawks earlier this season. It looked like they might do it again late in Game 4.

"We don't like to put ourselves in that kind of situation but we got the one, and we were close there for a second but it was too little too late," says Islander forward Eric DeLong. "I thought overall we still actually played a pretty good game. I wouldn't be surprised if this goes seven games, you can see it's really evenly matched out there."

Game 5 is Saturday in Notre Dame.