Warriors forward Ahmed Mahfouz celebrates with teammate Dan Tessier during Akwesasne's 10-4 win over Thousand Islands on Friday night.

PHOTO CREDIT - Allison Papineau

Cornwall - Mar. 5, 2011 - The Akwesasne Warriors will be competing for the inaugural Federal Hockey League championship.

Akwesasne punched their ticket to the FHL finals on Friday night with a convincing 10-4 road win over the Thousand Islands Privateers in Game 4 of the North Division Finals to take the best-of-five series three games to one.

Dan Tessier lead the way for the Warriors with three goals and one assist, and they also got big contributions from Miguel Delisle (one goal, three assists), Ahmed Mahfouz (one goal, two assists) and Darick Ste. Marie (one goal, two assists).

The Warriors controlled the play for much of the game and jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first period. The offensive outburst continued in the middle frame as the Warriors added five more goals to extend their lead to 9-3. The two rivals exchanged goals in the third period before the final buzzer sounded.

With the win, the Warriors will now face the winner of the southern division final - Danbury or New York - in the league championship.

It also means Warriors fans will get to see more of Mahfouz, the young Akwesasne forward who was recently named the league's Rookie of the Year. In 43 games, Mahfouz posted 21 goals and 60 points - seventh best in the FHL - and he also registered a plus 21 rating, a good indicator of his solid two-way play.