A bit of overtime magic in Trail Saturday night for the Cranbrook Bucks.
The Bucks met their BCHL Kootenay counterparts, the Trail Smoke Eaters, on the road Saturday night, it was the third clash between the two clubs in the regular season’s early goings.
Cranbrook has had Trail’s number in the season series, but the Smokies were coming into Saturday’s game riding a three-game winning streak while the Bucks were looking to shake off last week’s 3-1 loss to Wenatchee.
Both teams came out firing in the first period, Cranbrook outshot Trail 18-13. The Bucks opened the scoring at 13:22 via Jack Silich’s third goal of the season to take a 1-0 lead. Trail tied things up at 1-1 when Mathieu Cobetto-Roy’s goal at 15:32. The two clubs took a 1-1 tie into the second period while Bucks goalie Nathan Airey and Smokies goalie Teagan Kendrick got some time to rest.
The Smokies added two goals in the first ten minutes-plus of the first period to take a 3-1 lead. Cranbrook began to chip away at the deficit with a goal from Jarrod Smith at 16:51 to make it a 3-2 hockey game. Trail was able to carry their one-goal lead into the third period, but the Bucks were pressing.
Cranbrook was able to tie the game within the first two-minutes of the third period with a goal from Kellan Hjartarson to make it a 3-3 score. The game remained a stalemate through regulation time, forcing overtime in Trail.
The Bucks wasted little time to put the game away in the extra frame. Captain Rhys Bentham carried the puck off a faceoff win, and fired a shot through traffic to beat Kendrick for the game-winner to give Cranbrook a 4-3 overtime win.
With Saturday’s win, Cranbrook’s record improves to 5-2. The Bucks outshot Trail 36-34, Cranbrook converted on 1-of-4 power plays while killing all three of Trail’s attempts with the man-advantage.
The Bucks hit the road for their second appearance in the BCHL Showcase in Chilliwack with games on Tuesday versus the Cowichan Valley Capitals and on Wednesday versus the Nanaimo Clippers.
Buck Tracks:
- 2 points each for Rhys Bentham, Kellan Hjartarson and Jarrod Smith (1g,1a)
- Bucks lead season series 3-0 (5-0 including preseason)
Lead photo by Ben Phillips
