Steelers Battle Back Over Wolfpack to Extend Win Streak to Five
Written by Sonia Kuitenbrouwer
Fans saw a close game at the Burnaby Winter Club on Sunday night as the Grandview Steelers, looking to extend their win-streak to 5, faced off against the visiting North Vancouver Wolfpack. Off the puck drop, a theme of struggling discipline ensued for the two teams as a double-minor kneeing penalty called in the first two minutes would give the Steelers the upper hand. The 4-minute man advantage would expire scoreless as the Steelers, though overall dominant, would have trouble breaking into the offensive zone and creating quality chances. It would be not long after the expired penalty that a break from Gabriel Adam would get to the stick of Max Chelico, recording the game’s first goal 7:52 into the first period. Eager off the ensuing faceoff, the Wolfpack, down 7-0 on the shot clock, took control of the play. Battling in their own zone, a 2-minute charging penalty called on the Wolfpack would give Chelico the lane for the tic-tac-toe to Timperio, further extending their lead to 2. The period would close out with the Wolfpack matching the shots at 9 and another two minor penalties.
Dropping the puck in the second period, the roles seemingly reversed as Steelers’ Marco Bua would take an interference call at 2:07 to put the Wolfpack on their first man advantage. Matthew Carniel would capitalize in front, taking a pass off from Ryan Hunter behind the net to cut the lead in half. The battle of special teams would continue to lead the night as a tripping call in the fifth minute would put the Steelers back on the man-advantage. Shooting from the office of Alex Ovechkin was Vincent Timperio who would find the stick of Kaiden Johnson to tip into the net, 3-1 Steelers. Though leading, a tired Steelers team would go on to be swarmed by a hungry Wolfpack, letting their discipline dissipate. A tripping penalty from Narduzzi and boarding from Lee would hand the visitors the 3-on-5 zone-time, giving JJ Pickell a lane from Ryan Hunter and Jason Scott to score with 9 seconds left in the period. Steelers would take the lead heading into the second intermission after a struggling offensive front would be reflected in the shot count, 25-13 Wolfpack.
Maintaining the lead through the entirety of the 3rd frame, the Steelers would tighten up on the defensive front just enough to keep the puck along the boards and at neutral ice. With 53 seconds remaining, the small lead and defensive control of the Steelers would be compromised as Bandesha would get called in his own zone on tripping. The clock winding down, a scramble for both teams would put the puck in front for Jason Scott who would score with 27 seconds left, sending the two teams to a 3-on-3 5-minute overtime.
After 65 minutes of unsolved play, the ice at Burnaby Winter Club would see the shootout for the second time this season. First shots from Konechny and Casellato would go awry as both goaltenders would stand tall. Second round shots would come from Terness, who misses, and Kaiden Johnson, who would pot the first goal in the shootout. The winning goal would be from the stick of Gabe Adam who made a nice move to stop up and roof it on the backhand. Final score would come to 4-3 for the Steelers, who have now won 5 straight games.
Three stars of the night:
1st Star – Gabe Adam (Shootout winner, 1 assist)
2nd Star – Shayan Kermany (40 saves on 43 shots)
3rd Star – Jason Scott (Tying goal, 1 assist)