In the end, it turned out to be a lot tougher than the Airdrie Thunder bargained for, but the team is now off to play in the Heritage Junior Hockey League Championship series against Coaldale after eliminating the Mountainview Colts last night (March 13).

The Thunder got past the Colts 4 - 3 in game six of the North Final but had to come from behind to win it as once again the Colts proved to be a resilient group.

Trailing 3 - 2 entering the third period, the Thunder got a goal from Rylan Plante-Crough to tie it before Tyler McCarry scored the winner to put Airdrie in the league final.

Brayden Dunn and Jordan McConnell also scored for the Thunder who'll be looking for their third league championship in franchise history.  They previously took the 1997 and 2000 titles.

Head Coach Derek Stamp summed things up when he said, "Mountainview played a real good series and pushed us in all six games.  At the end, I think it was our depth that was the difference.

The Copperheads advanced to the final by taking the South series in five games from the Cochrane Generals.  Coaldale wrapped it up at home last night with a 4 - 2 win setting up a best of five battle between the top teams in both divisions of the league.

The dates for the final haven't been set.  

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