The Okotoks Oilers’ Mr. Playoff just keeps adding to his legend.
Oiler rookie John Edwardh scored his sixth game-winning goal of the postseason 6:29 into overtime to give his club a 3-2 win over the Brooks Bandits and a 2-1 series lead in the South finals, Monday night in front of a sellout crowd of 2,000 at Pason Centennial Arena.
“We had a great shift and it was towards the end of it so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to throw it on net,” Edwardh said of his league leading 11th goal of the post-season. “In playoffs that’s usually how overtime goals go in and I just wrapped it five-hole and luckily it went in.”
Before Edwardh could augment his remarkable playoff run, the Oilers and Bandits treated a packed house at Pason Centennial Arena to a rollercoaster game.
Bandit Taylor Makin opened the scoring on a powerplay marker with just over five minutes remaining in the first period on a snapshot that sneaked by Oiler goalie Jared D’Amico.
Things then took a turn for the odd in the April Fools day tilt midway through the second stanza.
Following an injury to Bandit Chris Muscoby that did not lead to a penalty and a subsequent powerplay awarded to the Oilers on the next shift, a water bottle flew off the Bandits bench in protest onto the ice.
Brooks head coach Ryan Papaioannou was ruled to have been the guilty party and was kicked out of the game, leading to a five-on-three powerplay to Okotoks. Chris Collins converted on the stagnant man-advantage for Okotoks to tie it 1-1.
Papaioannou vehemently denied the transgression and questioned the accountability of the referees after the game. Okotoks had eight powerplay opportunities in the contest, compared to two for the visiting Bandits.
“Watch the second period and unless you have a bias against the Brooks Bandits, you sit there and watch it and go something’s wrong tonight,” said Papaioannou. “I don’t know how we harmed (the referees), but they certainly harmed us tonight.”
“I tried to communicate with (the referees) to tell them our trainer threw the water bottle, he didn’t want to listen. He wouldn’t communicate so it makes it tough.”
The Bandits seemed to fight off the adversity for the remainder of the period. Against the run of play in the third frame, Oilers co-captain Robbie Fisher gave Okotoks its first lead of the game with a wrist-shot from the slot past Brooks’ Michael Fredrick 1:46 into the period.
Brooks would then prove resilient once again.
With just 10:16 remaining, Bandits captain Cam Maclise banged home a loose puck past D’Amico to tie it 2-2.
Following a lengthy delay to replace a pane of glass broken on a crushing body check from Oiler blueliner Tariq Hammond, Brooks had a golden opportunity to take a late lead.
RJ Reed was awarded a penalty shot with 4:18 left, but his attempt sailed wide, sending the game into overtime and setting the stage for Edwardh’s heroics.
Oilers head coach James Poole said he’s optimistic the Game 3 triumph can serve as the swing game where control in the series sways to Big Rock Country.
“It’s 1-1 in the series and you’ve got home-ice advantage you want to make sure you get Game 3,” Poole said. “Now they’re climbing uphill and have to come back to us on Wednesday.”
The overtime victory was the Oilers’ second in the series. Okotoks took Game 1 in Brooks on Friday 5-4 on a triple-overtime tally from Greg Lamoureux. Edwardh picked up a pair of goals in the win along with a single marker from Collins.
The Bandits rebounded the following night to even the series 1-1 through a 2-1 win on home ice.
Okotoks hosts Game 4 of the South finals Wednesday, 7 p.m. at Pason Centennial Arena, with an opportunity to truly put the defending champions on the ropes.
For more information go to okotoksoilers.ca.
