A slow start for the Nationals in game 5 against LaSalle as they were able to put the pressure on London quick. London was able to respond however neither team was able to get any good scoring opportunities at the beginning of the game. Halfway through the period, the Nationals had a nice break out of the zone for a textbook give and go goal by Colin Wilson from Adam Keyes to make it 1-0. The Nationals got into some penalty trouble receiving two back-to-back, however, two fantastic penalty kill efforts kept the Nationals in the lead going into the second period.
Five and a half minutes into the second period, Isaiah Payne’s shot from the point got deflected off of a LaSalle player to make it 2-0. A great team effort starting with a shot by Cal Davis that gave off a great rebound to James Turner to make it 3-0 at 10:34. Just two minutes later, Kyle Dawson’s shot from the point slipped under the goalie’s pads to give the Nationals another goal. LaSalle’s Evan Ferguson had a short-handed goal by capitalizing on an odd bounce to make it 4-1 going into the third period.
Three minutes into the period, Isaiah Payne scored his second goal of the night from the point. The Nationals got into some penalty trouble and had to kill three in a row. London was able to stay strong on the penalty kill as LaSalle pulled their goalie for the last two with the hopes to make a comeback. This did not work as Kyle Dawson score his second of the night on the empty net and short-handed. LaSalle responded with a goal three minutes later but it was too late to have an impact on the result of the game. George Diaco scored the Nationals last goal of the night in the top right corner to seal the game 7-2.
The Nationals won their Conference semi-finals in five games and will be heading to the Western Conference Championships starting next week against the winner of the Leamington and Komoka semi-final series.
