LOCKHART SCORES WINNER, THRASHERS WIN TELUS GOLD

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Connor Lockhart’s first goal of the tournament early in the third period was the game-winner as the Winnipeg Thrashers won the TELUS Cup with a 3-1 victory over the London Jr. Knights onSunday night at Mile One Centre.

The national championship is the first for the Thrashers and just the second for a team from Manitoba –the Brandon Wheat Kings, in 2004, won the first.

After a scoreless first period that saw the Jr. Knights outshoot the Thrashers 10-6, Winnipeg got on the scoreboard midway through the second as Justin Derlago’s shot from a sharp angle snuck past tournament TopGoaltender Craig Wood, who made 15 saves in a losing cause.

Late in the second period London’s Matthew Schurr took a boarding penalty after a hit on Corey Petrash and the Thrashers made the Jr. Knights pay on the power play early in the third, with Lockhart picking up the rebound  of a Tanner Quinn shot and beating Wood to double the lead.

Petrash, with three fresh stitches in his forehead from the Schurr hit, made it 3-0 just 99 seconds after Lockhart’s goal, providing the West Region champions with a little breathing room.

London’s Cale Duberry spoiled the shutout bid of Winnipeg net minder Teagan Sacher with just under six minutes to go, but that would be the only puck to beat Sacher, who made 31 saves to record the win between the pipes.

The gold medal is the seventh in eight years for the West Region; it has appeared in every gold medal game during that stretch, with only the Thrashers in 2008 failing to take home the national championship.