It has been a difficult week for the Theodore Buffalos.
Sunday they hosted the Drake Canucks in the first game of the Provincial 鈥楥鈥� Senior Division finals.
It took Nolan Blair only one-minute to give the visitors the lead.
Cody Zubko would tie the game at 8:34 of the first period, but that would be it for the Buffs offence.
Cameron Blair and Nolan Blair would score late in the first to give Drake a 3-1 lead.
In the second Cameron Blair potted his second goal of the contest at 1:41, then Nolan Blair completed his hat trick with a powerplay marker, before Carter Coben added one more to make it a 6-1 final.
Calvin Bartel was the winning netminder for Drake, while Kevin Dziaduck took the loss.
Game two of the series is slated for Drake Friday, with game three, if necessary, in Theodore at 6 p.m. Sunday.
League finals
The Buffalos held a one-game lead in the final as they headed to Rocanville last Tuesday, where the host Tigers came back from a 5-3 deficit after two periods for an 8-7 win to tie the league final series at one win each.
鈥淩yan Regel, Devin LeBlanc, and Konrad McKay all scored goals within the first 3:10 of the final period to erase the margin and put the Tigers in the driver鈥檚 seat,鈥� reported www.trianglehockey.ca.
Two of the three goals were also powerplay markers.
McKay, who finished with two goals and two assists, also would break a 6-6 tie with 4:22 remaining, reported the website
LeBlanc also scored a pair with singles going to Ashley Howie, Brett Hope, Regel, and Dustin Fisher.聽 Brad Hickman had four assists.
Korwin Shewchuk had a pair for Theodore.聽 Tanner Lesann scored one and had a hand in three others.聽 Other goal scorers were Logan Calanchie, Jeremy Johnson, Josh Garbutt, and Ryley Stefanyshyn.
Game three in the series was Friday back in Theodore.
鈥淒ustin Fisher scored his second of the game with just over seven minutes remaining in the third period, breaking a 4-4 tie and sending the Rocanville Tigers to within a win of their second straight Triangle Hockey League title as they edged the Theodore Buffalos 5-4 on Friday night,鈥� reported the website.
鈥淚t was a see-saw affair with neither team getting ahead by more than one.聽 Theodore took the lead for the first time, with 3:01 left in the second when Cody Zubko followed up Jeremy Johnson鈥檚 powerplay goal that came midway through the middle period to make it 3-2.
鈥淭he Tigers fought back on a Brett Hope powerplay goal less than a minute later and then Stephane Fouillard made it 4-3 Rocanville at 1:11 of the third.聽 Zubko scored again to tie it at 10:46 and then Fisher got the winner at 12:44 and the Tigers were able to hang on from there, including over the final three minutes when Theodore had a powerplay.鈥�
Ryan Regel (Tigers) and Korwin Shewchuk (Buffs) were the other goal scorers.
This game also featured a pair of scraps as Chris McAllister went toe to toe with Konrad McKay.聽 Daniel Reid dropped the mitts with Eric Kuzek.
Game four of the series was scheduled to be played last night (Tuesday) in Rocanville, but results were not available at press time. Should a game five be necessary, it鈥檚 back in Theodore tonight (Wednesday).
