The Ste. Anne Aces are four wins away from hoisting the South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League championship trophy.

The Aces, who joined the SEMHL this past fall after spending 18 years competing in the Carillon Senior Hockey League, swept the first place Portage Islanders in their best-of-five semifinal.

"It's pretty exciting," said Ste. Anne coach Kevin Lansard. "It was a grind through the regular season and so far a heck of a playoff run. We're pretty excited to have the opportunity."

Lansard described the semifinal with the Islanders as intense and as fast as they played this season.

"That team is really good, and it took everything we had to win that series. Even though it was a sweep those games were close and could have gone either way. Just happy that we were on the good end of things."

Three wins with three dramatic endings for a Ste. Anne team that finished in fourth place with a 10-6-0-2 record and eliminated the Red River Wild in the opening round of the playoffs.

Brenden Walker found the back of the net in overtime as the Aces took game one 6-5 at Stride Place.

Owen Blocker notched the go-ahead goal with 1:32 left in game two as Ste. Anne won 5-4 on home ice.

The series winner went to Caleb Paisley as he scored shorthanded 8:14 into overtime to lift the Aces past the Islanders 5-4 in game three back in Portage.

"We started a few of those games giving them a three-goal lead and a two-goal lead," noted Lansard. "I think that's a little bit of a complement to our leadership group and some of our players that have been there before being in the other league. We just kept our composure, and we never had any doubts. We were never rattled at any time. Even though they tied game three late, it was a credit to our guys to just stick with the plan and never back down."

As for the team's reaction after Caleb Paisley sent the Aces to the final with his OT winner.

"I was just exhausted, and I didn't even do any of the work." said Lansard. "It was nice to see and watch the guy's reaction because of how hard they had to work in that series. The boys were really excited and that makes it really fun."

Ste. Anne knocked off an Islanders team that won 15 straight games to start the season and lost just once in regulation.

"It says a lot about our character and our compete," remarked Lansard. "We wanted them, we were excited to have the opportunity to play them in a series. We knew we had more to offer than the regular season. The work ethic that we put in makes the reward so much more when you beat a team that good."

The Aces will meet either the Morden Bombers or Warren Mercs in the final.

The Bombers lead that semifinal two games to one with game four scheduled for Friday night in Morden.

If a deciding fifth game is necessary, it will be played Sunday in Warren.