Three games, 39 goals scored. Not much of an opening night defensively, but there were sure a share of beauty goals!
Game 1 between Team Red and Team Blue wielded the best defensive effort with a final score of 6-5 in OT. Team Red was down 5-1 with 4:14 to go in the second period, but would roar back with five unanswered goals including the game winner in the fourth frame.
Tanner Campbell got Team Blue off to a hot start as scored just 23 seconds into the game off a long screened shot. He picked up right where he left off from last season where he scored nine goals in 11 games with the Spruce Kings. Justin Fillion’s squad would tie the game up five minutes later, as Rob Raju tied the game at one. Blue would rattle off the next four goals though as Cavin Tilsley had a pair, recent commit Jamie Huber had one, and Chong Min Lee had a single.
With a minute left in the second, things looked bleak for Team Red trailing 5-1. Ethan de Jong would score with 43 seconds remaining though, and gave his team life heading into the third period down three goals.
The final frame started with a bang for Team Red as they rallied off two quick goals courtesy of Cameron Obcena and Rob Raju’s second of the game. The tying goal would come just after the 13 minute mark as Connor Russell roofed a shot from the right side.
Game One would head to overtime, with both teams exchanging chances. Eventually Travis Schneider who used his speed well all night was able to takeoff down the left side, and beat the goalie for the game winner.
With a quick turnaround, Team Blue was right back on the ice attempting to redeem their loss against a well rested team White led by coach RJay Berra. The exhaustion would prove to hurt as Blue lost their second game in a row.
Things didn’t look too bad at the beginning, as Kevin Fillier from Smithers scored in the opening minutes to give Blue a 1-0 lead. White banged out two goals in two minutes though to take their first lead of the evening. Braiden Epp started things off with a nice finish on a tic-tac-toe play with fellow returning forwards Kyle Johnson and Parker Colley. Devin Sutton from the Cariboo Cougars scored the go ahead goal just before the halfway mark of the period. Before the period ended Carl Ewert scored for Blue to tie the game at two heading to the second period.
That’s where White came alive scoring four goals. They burst out with a Kazeem Bapoo goal as he nutmegged his defender and roofed the puck for possibly the goal of the tournament. Tilsley would answer 18 seconds later taking a pass from Chong Min Lee to tie the game. From there it was all Team White as Ben Poisson scored twice including a breakaway goal beating the goalie blocker side. To cap the period off, Bapoo added his second to give his side a 6-3 lead.
Blue had two in the third courtesy of Darian Long and Chong Min Lee, but Kyle Johnson also scored which was too much for Blue to come back from, and they dropped the game 7-5 for their second loss in a row.
In the next game it was Team White’s turn to play a doubleheader against Team Red who was coming off the rest.
In a fast paced first period, Team Red came away leading 4-3. The game would again get off to a fast start with Schneider scoring 34 seconds into the match for Red. His counterpart also wearing number nine, Kyle Johnson, didn’t like that too much though, and scored two minutes later to tie things up.
Johnson would score his second of the game, and Poisson had his second of the night in the first, but that was countered by goals from Sebastian Larsson, Brett Mennear, and Jarod Hovde.
The second period was a bit of a gong show with five goals in the first five minutes. Red would score 20 seconds in, and added one more two minutes later thanks to Myles Mattila. Parker Colley responded one minute after to get his team back within two goals. The celebration was short lived as within a minute Red scored two more off the sticks of Hovde and Brett Witala.
James Gordon for Team White scored just before the halfway mark of the second to get his team back within three. Defensemen Morgan Poirier and Liam Watson-Brawn each scored for White before the period ended to bring the game within one.
After 15 goals in the first two periods, the third would wield only one, and it was Brett Mennear adding the insurance marker for Team Red to take the final decision 9-1.
SATURDAY SCHEDULE:
10am-12pm: Team Red vs Team White
2pm-4pm: Team Blue vs Team Red
6pm-8pm: Team Blue vs Team White
SUNDAY SCHEDULE:
10am-1pm: All-Star Game – PGSK Blue vs PGSK White
