The Cranbrook Bucks are off to a winning start to the regular season after a memorable opener in Trail Friday night with a 5-4 overtime win versus the Smoke Eaters.
The Bucks jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a goal from newcomer Noah Urness just fifty-nine seconds into the first period. Trail netted a response from Gryphon Bucci at 7:25 to vault the Smokies to a 1-1 tie. After twenty minutes, Trail held an 11-9 shots edge and the score remained at a 1-1 deadlock.
Everything was happening in the second period. The Smoke Eaters appeared to have the edge in play through the first half of the middle frame, taking a 3-1 lead via tallies from Christian Kim and Chase Stefanek. However, the Bucks still had plenty of time to right the ship. Cranbrook quickly tied the game at 3-3 with goals from Oskar Cederqvist and Jaxon Fuder coming less than a-minute-and-a-half apart. It looked like a tie game at second intermission was a certainty, but a goal from Blake Cotton at the buzzer put the Bucks at a 4-3 advantage after forty minutes. The last-second goal from the Bucks served as a prelude of what was to come later.
The defenses took over through the third period. Trail moved into a 4-4 tie at 1:42 with a power play goal from Adam Barone. The Smoke Eaters fired 14 shots on Bucks goalie Danick Leroux in the third period, but the new recruit was up to the task and kept his team alive through regulation despite pressure from the home team with a late power play. The score remained at a 4-4 tie after three periods, forcing ten minutes of 3-on-3 overtime.
Both teams traded early penalties and plenty of chances through the extra frame, but a late penalty for the Smoke Eaters proved to be their undoing. Bucks coach Ryan Donald opted to pull Leroux in the dying seconds with the ensuing power play intact to give his club a 5-on-3 advantage, and the gamble paid off with Jarrod Smith’s overtime winner with three-seconds remaining to give Cranbrook a buzzer-beater 5-4 win.
Friday’s win give’s Cranbrook a 1-0 start to the season, and the early edge in the 2023-24 edition of the Kootenay Rivalry. The Bucks outshot Trail 37-36. Cranbrook’s power play went 1/2, the Smoke Eaters finished 5-6 with the man-advantage.
The Bucks continue their season opening road swing versus the Vernon Vipers Saturday night.
Buck Tracks:
- 1st BCHL win for Danick Leroux.
- 1st BCHL goals for Noah Urness, Oskar Cederqvist.
- 2 assists for Zion Green.
