(Walpole, MA) --The Walpole Express Jr. A team completed a two-game road sweep of the Hartford Jr. Wolf Pack this weekend with wins of 6-2 on Friday and a 3-2 overtime thriller on Saturday. The Express enter the AJHL Final Four weekend as the number two seed and will face the winner of the New Jersey Rockets / Philadelphia Jr. Flyers in the semi-finals on Saturday, March 13 at the Iorio Arena in Walpole, Mass.

In game one of the Hartford series, the Express controlled the play from the very first drop of the puck. The Express peppered Wolf Pack goalie Bryan Houde with numerous shots, which he handled deftly until about the four minute mark of the first when Danny McAuliffe broke through for Walpole. Steve Charest got the assist as the Express took a 1-0 lead. In the second, McAuliffe again scored, this time on a two-on-one break with Georgiy Gurianov on the power play. Hartford cut the Express' lead with a power play goal of their own at 8:02 but Walpole responded immediately. Just 46 seconds after the Hartford goal Austin Grosvenor steered a McAuliffe pass through the neutral zone and beat Houde top shelf to make it 3-1. On the very next shift, Ed Rohaly tipped in a Joey Bonacci shot from the point to increase the Express' lead to 4-1.

Hartford again cut the lead in half when they converted on the man advantage to make it 4-2. With just 48 seconds remaining in the second, Matt Venoit grabbed a Lou Malvasi pass from behind the net and deposited it into the Wolf Pack net to give the Express the 5-2 lead. In a penalty filled third period for both teams, the Express increased their lead to 6-2 at 11:09 when Gurianov beat Houde far side on the power play with assists from Charest and Jake Brightbill. Derek Kump got the win in net by stopping 21 of 23 Hartford attempts.

On Saturday, Walpole traveled to Hartford for game number two and the boys found themselves in a battle from the start. The teams traded opportunities during a scoreless first period. In the second, the Express netted the first goal on the power play when Brian Greene took a Gurianov feed at the top of the slot and fired a low wrist shot past Houde. Hartford got the equalizer at 8:08 with a power play goal of their own on a 2-1 break. The teams headed into the third tied at 1. The game remained tied until the 12:18 mark when Greene scored his second of the game, another power play goal, knocking in a Matt Harrington rebound for the 2-1 lead. With the game and their season hanging in the balance, the Wolf Pack tied the game -- with their first even strength goal of the series -- with just under six minutes to play. The score remained that way through regulation.

In overtime, the Express got some early chances but were unable to convert. That gave Hartford new life as they took the play to Walpole for the better part of seven minutes. Goaltender Kump made some great saves as he held a rejuvenated Wolf Pack at bay. Eventually, Walpole received the jolt they desperately needed when the Rohaly- Venoit-Wes Heinle line ignited the bench with a tremendous shift that featured a number of scoring chances. On the very next shift, Greene launched a 3-on-2 coming out of the zone with a nice feed to Grosvenor who beat the Hartford defenseman. Though the puck squirted to the side of the net, the momentum built for the Express. Seizing the moment, Harrington banked a shot off the back the Hartford goalie and into the net for the 3-2 win.

“I thought Hartford came out hard, as you would expect with them being down a game and on home ice,” said Coach Mark Kumpel. “I thought they eliminated the second and third chances they were giving up on Friday, which made our jobs more difficult. But, as we have done all season, we kept battling and got some timely saves from Kump. In the end, the hard work paid off."

"Though we didn’t play our best hockey at times tonight, we had enough in the end to win," he continued. "Kump was exceptionally good, especially in the OT when our legs fell off a bit.

Added Coach Tony Dalessio, "We won the North division. We felt we were the better team coming in and we proved that in these two games.”

The Express anxiously await the results of the upcoming Rockets vs. Jr. Flyers match-up. Walpole plays the winner during the semi-finals next Saturday.

The Express Jr. B team face early MJHL playoff action on Friday, March 12 when they host the Long Island Royals at the Iorio Arena beginning at 5:30 pm. The Royals won their first-round series by sweeping the Northern Cyclones in two games.

“Long Island has an explosive team and can score in bunches so we will have to bring our A game and be ready," said Coach Mike Tenney. Walpole was victorious in four meetings with Long Island this season, taking a pair of games in October at Iorio and again in early January on Long Island.

Game two will be held at Iorio at 8:30 pm on Saturday and game three, if needed, will be held on Sunday at 4:00 pm.