The Pirate ship would surely founder Tuesday evening.

Picton was down a pair of goals inside three minutes left to play in an elimination game against the visiting Amherstview Jets. The Pirates had won the last two games of the series on the ice but adjudication of hockey law wiped out their Game 4 win, giving the opponents a 3-1 stranglehold instead of a 2-2 split of the series.

Picton staved off elimination in Game 5 on Sunday with a plucky 4-0 road win, sending the series back to Huff Estates Arena for Game 6.

Over 800 screaming fans had been silenced thanks to bit of brilliant net minding by Tyson Wilcox in the Amherstview goal. He had turned everything Picton sent his way aside, a 5-on-3 power play goal in the second period off the stick of Keenan Wiles notwithstanding.

The Pirates had put more than 40 shots to Amherstview’s mesh mansion with not much to show for their efforts.

Taking on water with precious little daylight left, the Picton come back started with 2:46 left to go in the third. After applying pressure in the Amherstview zone for a period of time, Gerrit Kempers skated off the half wall and fired a back hander towards the net. Picton’s Luc Amat would get a stick on the tumbling volley and the disc was redirected past Mr. Wilcox to make it 3-2.

Picton had a chance.

With 1:55 left and a faceoff in the offensive zone, Mr. Lane took a time out, settled the sailors and lifted his netminder for an extra attacker.

Picton controlled the face off and worked the puck around the Amherstview zone. Cole Stevenson made a pass from the corner to Mr. Wiles at the top of the zone.

The Pirates’ speedster sent a shot to the net that was knocked down in the slot. Captain Kempers pounced on the loose puck and fired a bullet to the glove side and lit the lamp with 1:36 left in the game.

Picton had momentum.

The Jets tried to settle things down with a timeout of their own but two straight goals put a gale force wind into Picton’s sails.

Tied at 3-3, Mr. Amat picked up a loose puck inside the Amherstview blue line with a minute remaining in regulation. Suddenly, a 2-on-1 break with Mr. Stevenson on his flank materialized. Picton’s best goal scorer made the pass of the playoffs so far, threading the needle and finding Mr. Stevenson at the side of the net for a tap in past Mr. Wilcox with 58 seconds left. Bedlam at the Picton rink.

Picton had control.

It was Amherstview’s turn to try for an equalizer with an extra attacker but with time winding down and the Jets spooling in the neutral zone, a tough bounce allowed Liam Philip to pick a loose puck and put it into a yawning cage with 12 seconds to make the final 5-3.

Picton forced Game 7.

“Down 2–0 ten minutes into the first. Trailing 3–1 halfway through the third. And still standing when it mattered most. That’s resilience,” Coach Lane said after the game.

Mr. Lane pointed to Messrs. Stevenson, Amat, Kempers, and Wiles who took over the game in the last five minutes and wouldn’t be denied on this night.

“We just stayed positive on the bench and knew we had it in us to come back,” he added.

The Pirates and Jets will play for the right to move on and face the Lakefield Chiefs in the Tod Division Semis.

Game 7 goes Thursday in Amherstview. Puck drop is 7:25 p.m.