The Elora Mohawks took both games from the Oakville Buzz last week, finishing off their best-of-five OLA first-round playoff series in four games.
Elora scored a 7-4 win over the Buzz at home on Canada Day, and then needed to rally in overtime to beat the Buzz 8-7 Sunday in Oakville.
The Tribe took command of Game 3 in the second period. Leading just 2-1 after the first period, Elora rolled off three straight goals in a six-minute span that began with Matt Hummel scoring a short-handed goal just 10 seconds into the period. Dan Keane scored a pair of goals to extend the lead to 5-1 before Oakville's Spencer Gallant broke the Tribe's run. There was no swing in momentum, as Brady Heseltine netted a powerplay goal 16 seconds into a penalty against Jamie Elliott for illegal cross-checking.
Todd Scarrow put the Tribe up 7-2 with a goal halfway through the third period, and Oakville netted two goals late in the game to make the score appear better than it really was. Ricky McGarr stopped 32 of 36 shots for the win, while Ian Duffy made 47 saves on 54 shots in taking the loss.
Kyle Dobbie and Kyle Goss added single goals, while assists came from Dobbie (3), Brent Murphy (2), Hummel (2), Jake Weidner, Heseltine and Jordan Denny.
Following the game, Mohawks head coach Dean George said he would have preferred to have knocked Oakville out in a sweep, but thanks to their 9-8 loss in Game 1 the Tribe was facing a second trip to Oakville.
"I'm happy with the sense of energy and passion our guys played with tonight," he said. "We pressured the ball and were getting lots of offensive rebounds like we did in Game 2 (a 7-5 Elora win). When our defence holds a team to just two goals in 56 minutes of play, that's pretty impressive."
George admitted that Elora was still taking too many undisciplined penalties, and that was something he wanted to improve on as the Mohawks moved deeper into the post-season.
"We can't be taking penalties like that and hope to be successful," he said. "Everybody's playing well, but we still need to elevate our play. We need to increase the intensity and the work ethic and be better in all areas."
Sunday afternoon in Oakville, the Mohawks got off to another strong start and had to watch Oakville rally late in the game yet again.
Heseltine, Goss and Mark Pfohl scored to give the Tribe a 3-0 lead after the first period - a lead they pushed to 4-0  and later 5-1 before the second period was five minutes old. Oakville rallied in the second, scoring two goals in 38 seconds to make it a 5-3 lead. Jordan Godin scored to make it 6-4 with just under six minutes left in the frame, but Gallant scored with 32 seconds left in the period to bring the Buzz to within two goals of tying the game.
Bryan Cole and Gallant tallied in the third period for Oakville, knotting the score at 6-6. The final 10 minutes solved nothing, so the teams went to overtime to decide the issue. Robert Bentivegna put Oakville in front for the first time in the game, but Dobbie and Hummel scored less than a minute apart to give the Mohawks a lead they wouldn't surrender.
Hummel, Pfohl (3), Heseltine, Scarrow, Benham, Alex Gleeson, Weidner, Goss (2) and Keane added assists in the win.
Elora joined the Six Nations Rebels as the only other team in the second round of the OLA Western Conference playoffs as of press time. Orangeville lead Welland 2-1 going into a Monday night meeting in Orangeville, while Windsor and Owen Sound were tied 2-2 with Game 5 scheduled for Tuesday, July 6, in Windsor.
In the Eastern Conference, Halton Hills, Kahnawake, Newmarket and the Green Gaels all advanced to the second round. Founders Cup tournament host Mimico was sent packing by the Newmarket Saints 3-1.