Box Score Waterloo Warriors forward Andy Smith (Rosetown/) is heading home for a visit in a couple weeks – and he's taking his entire team with him.

Smith, a Saskatchewan native, scored the eventual game-winner in the second period as the Warriors punched their ticket to Saskatoon for the University Cup national championship tournament with a 5-3 win over the Windsor Lancers in game two of the OUA West division final on Saturday night in Waterloo.

The win completes the series sweep for the Warriors, who eliminated the OUA West's top three seeds en route to an unlikely division crown. Waterloo will now go on to play in the 102^nd Queen's Cup OUA Championship game next week, before heading west for the CIS tournament starting March 14.

Smith was credited with a pair of goals, but it appeared his first of the game actually belonged to Colin Behenna (Waterloo/). Behenna finished with a pair of assists, and Kain Allicock (Markham/) celebrated his 23^rd birthday with a goal and an assist. Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener/) was once again solid in the Waterloo net, making 37 saves for his sixth win in seven games this postseason.

The Lancers got goals from Christian Steingraber, D.J. Turner, and Brett Oliphant, and Drew Palmer had 2 assists in a losing cause. Windsor goaltender Parker Van Buskirk, unbeatable for much of the postseason, allowed five goals on 30 shots as the Lancers' season ended.

The Warriors weathered an early Lancer storm in the first period before Justin Larson (Buckhorn/) ignited the crowd, hopping out of the penalty box and into the rush just in time to find Van Buskirk's 5-hole, making it 1-0 for the hosts. Windsor responded on a power play just 61 seconds later, when Evan Stibbard found a pinching Steingraber, who rifled a shot over Hartigan's blocker to even the score at 1 apiece after 20 minutes.

Windsor came out with even more jump in the second, and the Warriors were hemmed in for much of the first three minutes. But it was Waterloo that got the game's next goal, when Smith pressured Van Buskirk on a dump in, and the Lancer goalie turned the puck over to Behenna who appeared to fire it home – although the goal was credited to Smith.

The Warriors continued their torrid second period just before the midway point, when Matt Amadio (Sault Ste. Marie/) broke in along the right wing and found a trailing Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge/), who made no mistake from the high slot to make the score 3-1 Waterloo. The Lancers refused to go away though, as Turner completed a gorgeous solo effort by defenceman Kenny Bradford to make the score 3-2.

In the late stages of the second period and with the Lancers coming hard, it was Smith who turned the tides for good on the power play. He took a cycle pass from Allicock behind the net, jumped to the near post, and backhanded it over Van Buskirk's left pad to restore Waterloo's 2-goal lead. Despite Windsor's best effort, Hartigan kept them at bay and the Warriors led 4-2 through two periods of play.

Just before the six-minute mark of the third period, Windsor once again silenced the raucous crowd when Oliphant grabbed a loose puck off a broken play and roofed it to cut the Warriors lead to 4-3. But just over two minutes later, the birthday boy gave the Warriors the insurance they needed, as Allicock popped out of the corner, was allowed to skate to the high slot, and beat Van Buskirk on the blocker side to make the score 5-3.

The large crowd once again erupted as time ticked down, and when Kirt Hill (Winnipeg/) cleared the zone with less than 10 seconds remaining, the Waterloo bench was able to exhale. After exchanging handshakes, the Warriors saluted the sold-out crowd in what was, by far, their biggest crowd of the year.

The Warriors know they'll be part of the Queen's Cup OUA championship game next week, but they still don't know where that will be. If Carleton wins the decisive game three of the OUA East final, Waterloo will travel to Ottawa to play the Ravens. But if UQTR takes game three, Les Patriotes will make the trip to Waterloo for the title game.
Watch gowarriorsgo.ca and @uwwarriorhockey on twitter for scheduling information as it becomes available.

Notes: Waterloo went 1-for-2 on the man advantage, while Windsor went 1-for-4…The win was head coach Brian Bourque's 150^th combined regular season or playoff victory. Bourque, in his 8^th year, has averaged more than 18 wins per season in his tenure…Waterloo will make their first appearance in the Queen's Cup game since their last provincial title in 1996.