Just when it seemed that there was no way on earth that more drama could be squeezed into the SDSSAA Boys Hockey Best of Five Championship Series, the Lo-Ellen Park Knights and St Charles College Cardinals found a way to crank it up another notch.

Flashback: With Lo-Ellen up one game to none following a 3-2 win, in overtime, in the series opener, St Charles were perched on the verge of a series deadlock, leading 2-1 with less than a minute to play - until Cale Prpic scored with eight seconds showing on the clock to force OT and Hudson Crowder doubled the Knights' series advantage, netting the game-winning goal in three on three hockey

Deja-vu all over again in game three as goals by Jacob Hayes and Jaden Shawana have the Cards leading 2-1 as the scoreboard begins to display the tenths of a second (Jacob Barney opened the scoring for Lo-Ellen).

A couple of shots at the empty-net just barely miss the target when a low, seeing-eye wrister from Lo-Ellen defenceman Sam Levesque somehow finds its way through a maze of buddies, deflecting into the far corner - with 2.3 seconds to play.

This time around, the ten minute fourth period solves nothing, forcing a shootout.

"I've always been good at shootouts, my whole life," noted SCC goaltender Declan McNamara, turning aside shots by Jayden Ceming and Matti Jouppi while teammates Tyler Thibodeau and Jacob Hayes converted, giving St Charles a 3-2 win heading into game four Thursday night in Walden.

"In practice, no one can really score on me," added McNamara. "I think the boys knew if there was a shootout, it was over."

Of course, having the faith in the offensive abilities of his team's veterans did not hurt the Cardinals chances at the other end of the rink.

"Tyler Thibodeau does the same move, every time," laughed McNamara. "I was hoping he would do it and he did it again and it was money. Hazer (Jacob Hayes) - that guy can just put the puck in the back of the net."

An absolute capacity crowd at the Carmichael Arena that saw folks lined up three deep in the lobby has created an environment that is unmatched for many of these athletes - not to mention forced league officials to move the final two games to venues who can hold the 700+ throngs that are expected.

"It's incredible," beamed McNamara. "A packed barn on a Monday night - it doesn't get any better than this."

Not to be outdone on Monday, the Confederation Chargers and Lively Hawks also went to overtime to decide game two of their Division II final as Meeka Duguay evened the matchup at one game apiece, netting his second goal of the game late in OT to pull the Chargers even.

Remaining Confederation scorers included Jordy Giroux, with a pair, as well as Josh Vis and Landon Doyle while Kaiden Broomhead, with a hat-trick and Aiden Ruppell and Andrew Dore replied in a losing cause.

The contest was an ironic turn of affairs for the Hawks who knocked off the Lockerby Vikings in semi-final action, two games to one, with all three encounters decided in extra time.