Okotoks, AB – The Whitecourt Wolverines (29-15-6) concluded their weekend South Division road swing with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Okotoks Oilers (42-6-2) on Sunday afternoon.
The Wolverines found themselves down 2-0 just past the midway point of the first period as just over a minute into the game, Kylor Wall snuck a point shot past Wolverine's starting goalie Xavier Potvin and just prior to the media timeout, Tanner Laderoute of the Oilers extended his point streak to 12 games as he set up Carter Huber in the high-slot to double the home sides lead. Just over three minutes after the Oiler went up by two, Ben Evanish trimmed the Wolverines deficit to one as he took a sweet feed from Spencer Bast on a two-on-one rush and stepped around Oiler goalie Riley Morris to deposit his team's first goal of the afternoon.
The Oilers would restore their two-goal lead just over two minutes into the second period as on a power play, Wall took a pass at the right point and one-timed it home. The Oilers would run into penalty trouble a short time later and with the Wolverines on a two-man advantage, Brayden Richards had a one-time blast from the point stopped, but it generated a perfect rebound for Bast to slam into the back of the net, once again bringing the Wolverines back to within a goal.
The Wolverines would finally equalize the game just 30 seconds into the third period as a dump in took a strange hop off a stanchion and ricocheted right to Evanish in the right-wing circle that he wasted no time blasting into a wide-open net as Morris had left his cage anticipating the puck coming behind his net. The Wolverines would take their first lead of the game 7:15 into the third period as captain Ryan Grant skated onto a loose puck along the left-wing boards and quickly snapped a shot on net that fooled Morris. The Oilers responded quickly as Zane Kindrachuk finished off a beautiful passing play on a three-on-two rush into the Wolverines zone just two minutes after the Wolverine go-ahead goal. The teams remained deadlocked as regulation expired.
In overtime, the Wolverines were able to kill off an Oiler power play but with just 2.8 seconds left in the bonus period, Carter Huber was able to snap home the game-winning goal from the right-wing circle.
The Wolverines return to action Friday night when they travel to Bonnyville to battle the Pontiacs (16-27-7) at 7:30 p.m.
Whitecourt Wolverine's head coach Gord Thibodeau discusses Sunday's setback:
Scoring Summary
1st Period:
OKO Goal – 1:04 – Kylor Wall(10) from Carter Huber (EV)
OKO Goal – 10:31 – Carter Huber(22) from Tanner Laderoute and Marc Pasemko (EV)
WCT Goal – 13:46 – Ben Evanish(27) from Spencer Bast and Simon Lavoie (EV)
2nd Period:
OKO Goal – 2:52 – Kylor Wall(11) from Hoon Kim and Tanner Laderoute (PP)
WCT Goal – 6:50 – Spencer Bast(15) from Brayden Richards and Spencer Augot (PP)
3rd Period:
WCT Goal – 0:33 – Ben Evanish(28) from Ryan Grant (EV)
WCT Goal – 7:15 – Ryan Grant(4) from Yannik Bertrand and Mackenzie Harden (EV)
OKO Goal – 9:31 – Zane Kindrachuk(4) from Blake Wells and Marc Pasemko (EV)
Overtime:
OKO Goal – 4:57 – Carter Huber(23) from Austin Wong and Nick Blankenburg (EV)
Shots – WCT 27 (9-9-7-2) OKO 27 (7-8-11-1)
Power plays – WCT 1/6 OKO 1/7
Goalies:
WCT – Xavier Potvin (22-11-5) 22sv/25sh
OKO – Riley Morris (23-2-2) 23sv/27sh
Three Star Selection:
1. OKO-Carter Huber
2. WCT-Ben Evanish
3. OKO-Kylor Wall
Hardest Working Wolverine: Spencer Bast
Recap presented by:
