David Archambeau/Daily Mining Gazette Portage Lake’s Cody Sivonen battles with Calumet’s Josh Harju for possession Saturday at the Calumet Colosseum.

CALUMET — The Calumet Wolverines came tantalizingly close to ending their Gibson Cup drought against the Portage Lake Pioneers Saturday night.

Instead, the best-of-three series will be decided Tuesday night at Dee Stadium.

The Pioneers 5-4 double overtime win knotted the series at 1-1, thanks to a goal by Alex Roy 6:03 into the second extra session.

Coach Pat McCarthy’s Pioneers trailed a good portion of the way Saturday night before a big crowd at the Colosseum.

But the southend team continued to battle and finally got the game-winner when Roy picked up a rebound of a hard shot by Charlie Turner and beat CLK netminder Ryan Patrick from close range.

“It was a really competitive game,” McCarthy commented. “All of our games against Portage Lake have been like that this season. We’re just happy to get another shot.”

Calumet coach Bruce “Cukie” Coppo said the size of the crowd gave his team some extra incentive

“We haven’t played before a crowd like that since the mid-1980s,” Coppo noted. “We would have liked to have won tonight, but that’s the way it goes. We’ll have to get ready for Tuesday night.”

The goaltenders for both sides stood out. PL netminder Matt Turunen blocked 43 shots, while Patrick had 41 saves.

“Both goaltenders were outstanding,” Coppo said. “They made big saves all night.”

The biggest save may have come late in regulation when Wayne Hyrkas was stoned by Turunen on a breakaway situation.

Calumet’s Logan Rastelo drew first blood when he scored from an difficult angle early in the opening period.

Portage Lake’s Tyler Sarazin got that back with an unassisted goal just a 1:15 later.

But the Wolverines took a 2-1 lead at the 14:13 mark of the first stanza when Hyrkas got a nice pass from Mike Babcock and beat Turunen.

“That was as nice a goal as I’ve seen in awhile,” Coppo said. “We had some very good passing on that play.”

A power play goal by Cody Sivonen of the Pioneers early in the second period made it 2-2.

The Wolverines wasted little time getting the lead at 3-2 when Tyler Loukus lit the lamp with an unassisted effort 12 seconds later.

A power play marker by the southend crew knotted it again at 6:27 when Hunter Rajala blinked the light.

The Wolverines regained the lead later in the period when Josh Harju teamed up with Jeff Erkkila and Eric Bausano for a 4-3 advantage for the northenders.

Turner, a constant thorn in the side of Calumet, evened it up early in the final period with a power play marker.

“He (Turner) has been a nemesis of ours,” Coppo said. “He’s a tough player with good speed.”

It stood that way through an eight-minute first overtime as both goaltenders stood tall.

McCarthy said Turunen has been steady most of the season.

“Matt has done a nice job; he’s won a few games for us with his play,” the PL skipper said.

The Pioneers, who have won the last eight Gibson Cups, improved to 14-12-1 on the season. Calumet dropped to 12-15.

Tuesday’s game will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Port. Lake 1 2 1 0 1 – 5

Calumet 2 2 0 0 0 – 4

First period

CA – Logan Rastello (Mike Babcock, Maxx Fredrickson) 6:02

PL – Tyler Sarazin (unassisted) 7:15

CA – Wayne Hyrkas (Babcock, Rastello)

Second period

PL – Cody Sivonen (unassisted) 1:13

CA – Tyler Loukus (unassisted) 1:25

PL – Riley McKay (Hunter Rajala, Hunter Kero) 8:11 PPG

CA – Josh Harju (Jeff Erkkila, Eric Bausano) 11:52

Third period

PL – Charlie Turner (Kero) 3:29 PPG

Second overtime

PL – Alex Roy (Turner) 6:03

Goalies saves

Turunen (PL) 43; Patrick (CA) 41.