The Whitecourt Wolverines and Lloydminster Bobcats went toe to toe in Game 4 Monday night at the Scott Safety Centre in front of 912 Wolverine fans. All went right for the Wolverines in the first period as they would strike twice late in the period seeing power play goals from Colten Mayor who would net his 4th of the post season at the 15:54 marker and Evan Warmington would net his 1st of the post season to put the Wolverines up 2-0 heading into the 1st intermission.
The Lloydminster Bobcats would come out of the gate strong to start the second frame however it wasn’t until the 9:51 marker when Taylor Mulder finally managed to put the puck behind Riley Corbin who was making his second straight start for the Wolverines. The Bobcats wouldn’t stop there as 1:25 later Brandon Crone would tie the game at 2. However, that lead wouldn’t last as just 1:10 later a rocket from the point saw Gianni Mangone beat Christopher Tai top shelf. Tai who would be making his return to the crease for the Bobcats had not dressed since Game 1 of the series.
With Mangone putting the Wolverines back on top in the second period the 3rd period would see the Bobcats tie the game when Lukas Biensch would capitalize on the momentum created by the Cats at the 12:49 marker. That lead would last just 1:23 as the Wolverines would once again jump back in front as a pinching Matthew Abt would net his 2nd of the playoffs and that would put the Wolverines up 4-3 with just over 7minutes to play.
With Christopher Tai on the bench the Bobcats would apply hard pressure late in the 3rd. The Wolverines weren’t able to handle the late surge by the Bobcats as Austin MacDonald would find a loose puck and put it in back of the net with just 0:10 remaining. The Bobcats would tie the game for the 3rd time and send the game to overtime for the second time this series.
Overtime wouldn’t be pretty for the Wolverines as the Bobcats would keep the momentum coming they gained in the 3rd period and just 4:35 into overtime Taylor Mulder would find a loose puck in the slot to beat Corbin and send the series back to Lloydminster with a 5-4 defeat of the Wolverines.
Game 5 of the series will be played in Lloydminster Wednesday March 12th at 7:30pm.
Devin Rideout
Director of Media Operations.