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Hitmen, Raiders set to square off in final

The Inlet Raiders and Midway Power/Grasshopper Pub Hitmen will battle for the men's A-division title after their respective first round series last week.

The Inlet Raiders and Midway Power/Grasshopper Pub Hitmen will battle for the men's A-division title after their respective first round series last week.

The Hitmen swept the Roberts Creek Rangers in two games after winning game two 3-1 last Saturday night.

Dan Fitchel, Gage Gregory and Scott MacLeod scored for the Hitmen, while Glenn Allen scored for the Rangers.

The Raiders were pushed to the brink by the defending champion Suncoast Flyers, who took them to the third and final game on Tuesday night.

The Flyers won game two by a score of 3-2 on March 17 to tie the series.

Danny Baker, Jarred Grisenthwaite and Todd Creed scored for the Flyers. Conner McArthy and Creed also added two assists each.

Dan Scoular and Tristan Tuplin scored for the Raiders while Tom Poulton added two assists.

Tuesday night's game was a heart-stopper from the drop of the puck.

The Flyers opened up a 2-0 lead before the Raiders tied the score early in the second. The Flyers went up 3-2 on a penalty shot at the 11:17 mark of the second, but the Raiders responded with a pair of goals to take a 4-3 lead heading into the third.

The Flyers tied the score 4-4 with three minutes to go, sending the game into overtime.

Graham Benjafield scored the winner for the Raiders at the 9:58 mark of the extra frame to secure the 5-4 win and claim the series.

Other Raiders goals went to Mike Cote, Dwight Davidson, Tuplin and Bryan Poulsen.

Flyer goals were scored by Jordan Radymski, Curtis Munson, Creed on the penalty shot and Darryl Baker.

"I give full marks to the Flyers - they pushed us to the brink," said Poulton. "The Flyers played a great series to come back and almost take us out. We really had to pull out the stops to beat them. I give them a ton of credit. It was an intense, mentally and physically draining game."

The best-of-five championship final gets underway Saturday night at 8:45 p.m. Game two is Tuesday at 9:45 p.m., game three is Thursday at 8:30 p.m., game four (if necessary) is Friday at 7 p.m., and if a fifth game is needed, it goes next Saturday, April 2, at 8:45 p.m.