The South East Prairie Thunder will play in the 2015 Allan Cup semifinals.

Steve Christie stopped 31 shots as South East defeated the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts 2-1 Wednesday afternoon in Clarenville, Newfoundland & Labrador.

Del Cowan and Nick Cowan did the goal scoring for the Prairie Thunder who finished the round robin with a 2-0 record.

South East coach Brad Purdie had huge praise for his goaltender and 14 skaters.

“Probably the best word to describe it would be gutsy,” said Purdie. “You had guys that were just laying it all out there, blocking shots, taking big hits to get pucks out. Our goaltender was out of the net and Ryan Bonni came across with a two-pad stack late in the game to make a glove save. That's what guys are doing – that's what guys are buying into and obviously we were on the right side of the scoreboard today.”

Danny Wicks had the lone goal for the Cataracts who finished the round robin with a 1-1 record.

South East beat the defending champion Dundas Real McCoys 4-3 on Tuesday and thanks to their first place finish in Division One – have a well deserved Thursday off.

“It's huge,” Purdie said. “We've got six guys coming in that will be able to get on the ice. We've got some guys who the last two days have played a ton of hockey and they're not young guys anymore. They need the rest and we'll use the rest wisely. Our lineup certainly got a lot deeper and faster I think maybe now instead of sitting back, we'll be able to push the pace a little bit.”

Dale Butland, Rob Smith, Greg Beller, Blair Macaulay, Dustin Hughes and Shawn Limpright joined the team while Steve Crampton and Brandon Lockerby headed back to Manitoba.

“Guys have made a lot sacrifices just to get out here and we're feeling really good about ourselves in that room. You know the old saying – we're here, might as well win. Obviously Friday is going to be a tough game who ever we play but Thursday is a huge advantage for us especially getting that rest and with the reinforcements coming in, those guys will fit in nicely. We'll just try to ride this wave as long as we can.”

The Prairie Thunder are in the semifinals for the first time since winning the Allan Cup in 2012 in Lloydminster.

South East failed to qualify for the 2013 Allan Cup in Bentley and lost out to the Kenora Thistles in the quarterfinals last year in Dundas.


photo by Doug Mathieson