MHKY | Voyageurs Overcome Resilient Paladins
January 26, 2018
On Friday night, the Voyageurs men's hockey team beat the visiting RMC Paladins 4-3 in overtime to earn their second win in a row.
The game ensued in a clear cut motive as both teams needed the win. The Voyageurs opened the scoring on the powerplay as Richard Therrien scored his team leading 10th goal at 7:55. Dylan Fitze and Blake Forslund both assisted on the play.
RMC was quick to answer, however, as Rhett Willcox beat Mackenzie Savard in net at 8:53 to the tie the contest, neither team dropped in intensity as the battle prevailed.
RMC would add another late in the period as Willcox scored again at 18:37, sending both teams to the first intermission with the Paladins up 2-1.
The Voyageurs powerplay stayed hot as Xavier Couture tied the game on the man advantage at 10:51 with his seventh goal of the year. This time Brent Pedersen and Nicolas Dionne picked up helpers on the play.
RMC found a way to score again late in the period, as Bruce Hornbrook found the back of the net at 18:55, again sending the teams into the intermission with the Paladins up by one.
Fitze would get his second point of the night early in the third period as he tied the game at 1:47 with his seventh goal of the season. Jacob Smith picked up the lone assist on the game-tying goal.
Fitze's goal would be the only goal of the period, despite the Vees outshooting RMC 11-8 in the final period, and the teams were heading for overtime.
In the sudden death period, Derek Varrin secured the victory for the Vees at 1:21 while Pedersen picked up the assist.
With the win, the Voyageurs are now on a two-game winning streak and are two points out of the final playoff spot. The Vees will look to make it three in a row as they host Queen's on Saturday night.
Sam Brooks
Sports Writer