Kyle Lowes wound up the hometown hero.

The Canada Winter Games forward sniped the overtime-winning goal against the Pursuit of Excellence (POE) Hockey Academy Midgets for a 5-4 win in their match up Sunday at the Canada Games Centre.

"I saw the guy fumble the puck, took it, he hauled me down and I kind of shoveled the puck; and I didn't really know I scored, but then I heard my buddy Trevor (Whynot) yelling, jumping on me,” Lowes said.

He played with five stitches in his forearm after sustaining an injury Saturday while playing with the Whitehorse Midget Mustangs.

The confidence after the win – and in that fashion – is huge for Team Yukon before heading into the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax, N.S., in two weeks, Lowes added.

"It's an ugly goal, but it counts,” Glass said. "These guys are thrilled to actually win the game. It's awesome for us; it's great for our confidence.”

Team Yukon took just four penalties, all in the second period, to the POE's 12, five of which came in the third.

Glass's concern grew after his side went down 2-0 in the first.

If the POE scored a third goal Glass knew his team would have trouble coming back.

"But we battled back and got a few power plays, kept discipline and took the lead 3-2,” he said.

"And then when they tied it up and went ahead going into the third I thought, ‘Well,

it's close, we'll just push and try and keep it a one-goal game as long as we can.'”

Glass called a time out with less than five minutes remaining after Team Yukon failed to convert with a two-man advantage.

"We just decided, ‘Hey, we're going to go for it, we're going to full-on pinch and we're going to get a puck to the net. That's why our captain Matt McCarthy stepped up there and took a risk to get that puck – batted it down and shot to tie,” Glass said.

"Normally a defenseman's going to back out in that situation, but we were basically full-court press. Once you get to overtime it's a coin toss.”

The Kelowna-based POE opened the scoring with two goals by Mustangs players filling in for the visitors' injury-laden roster.

Tyler Weins scored the game's first goal at 13:00, followed by a goal from Michael Hare at 2:06.

Team Yukon got back into the game in the second off two goals from Tyrell Hope at 13:25 and 8:45. Wyatt Gale added his side's third goal at 7:06.

The POE responded with a goal from Austin Lee at 6:41 to tie the game 3-3 heading into the third period.

Whitehorse's Brayden Kulych opened the scoring for the POE in the third with a goal at 15:13.

McCarthy returned the favour with a dramatic unassisted goal with 43 seconds remaining to push the game into OT.

POE head coach Bill Rotheisler the game against the CWG boys had a different dynamic than playing the Midget Mustangs twice on Friday and Saturday night.

"They're a little smaller, less physical, but they're skilled, they got some skilled guys that can move the puck well, and that was a big difference for us,” Rotheisler said.

"I felt we played well. Even in the third period I thought we played a good game, I thought we played well enough to win.”

Whitehorse's Tyson Glass, who plays Outside for the POE and will represent Team Yukon at the Canada Games, was injured during the POE vs. Mustangs game the previous night after a hit which gave him a minor concussion.

"I'm feeling better today than yesterday,” Glass said during the first-period intermission.

"I have a little bit of a headache, a little dizzy, but not too bad. I feel bad that I'm not playing today, but I just can't.”

Tyson and Jared Steinbech, who is playing Outside, were missing from the CWG lineup.

Jay said concussions have to be watched closely.

"They're telling us a week, so he's going to rest up and try to get himself going,” Jay said. "Hopefully we'll have him in the lineup.

"We got two more weapons to use and we need them in the lineup, but I think we proved that we got depth and we basically did it without two of our top five forwards offensively. It really bodes well for our team that they can dig deep and other guys can get the job done.”

Team Yukon will face off against Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest

Territories and Prince Edward Island in the round robin of the Canada Games.