The third and final game of the BC Elite Hockey League’s U18 men’s final ended in a cloud of controversy.
Hudson Getzlaf’s game-winning goal in overtime drew one heck of a buzz around Kin 1 as he and his Okanagan Rocket teammates celebrated a 3-2 victory over the Cariboo Cougars on Sunday.
After the goal sign was made by the official several Cougar players and coaches vehemently asked for the play to be discussed further to no avail.
Even the media team for Cariboo were searching for what angles they could find to determine whether the puck went into the net or not – but for the most part deemed inconclusive.
Some fans were suggesting it hit cross-bar and bounced straight back into the crease where it was later caught by goaltender Jaxon Dikur.
Prior to that, Getzlaf led a 2-on-1 rush for the Rockets after an ill-timed pinch by Cariboo defender Carson Brookes.
In what was a loud and tense crowd, it only took 11:26 minutes to get the Cariboo supporters out of their seat.
Nicholas Gordon drew first blood for the Cougars as his shot beat Rockets goaltender Finn McKiernan for a 1-0 lead.
Undeterred and poised, Okanagan didn’t blink as a Kylen Martens point blast from inside the Cariboo blueliner bounced off the stick of blueliner Josh Gendron and past Dikur to even the score at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
A big turning point in the game came in the second period, where Rockets scoring forward Dion Schraeder was assessed a five-minute major for kneeing Cougars defenseman Ben Fofonoff who left the game and didn’t return
That came just over a minute after Martens took a double-minor for head-contact – giving the U18 Cats eight minutes of power-player including a 5-on-3 for nearly three minutes.
While mostly unsuccessful, Miller Tedesco would find a way to slip one past McKiernan to give Cariboo a 2-1 edge. Tedesco drove to the front of the goal following a strong shift by Blake Collison where he powered his way into the danger area, finding his teammate.
However, as per usual, the Rockets punched right back with under a minute remaining in the second as a quick shot by Haiden Laing handcuffed Dikur and into the goal to tie the game at 2-2.
Cariboo outshot Okanagan 36-28. Dikur made 25 saves in defeat while McKiernan stopped 34 Cougars pucks in the Game 3 victory.
The Rockets, the youngest team in the BCEHL’s U18 division, could see fourteen of their 20 players return next year.
Okanagan will now suit up in the Pacific Regional qualifier where they will await the winner of the Alberta league final between the Sherwood Park Ennis Kings and the Calgary Northwest Flames.
The Flames lead the best-of-five series 2-0 following a 3-2 double-overtime win on Sunday.
The Telus Cup is being held April 21-27 at the Chilliwack Coliseum.
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