Running on fumes in a marathon hockey battle, the playoff lives of the Northland Dodge Northern Cougars were hanging by a thread.
Until Sage Desjardins delivered the Cougars another shot at winning the female midget triple-A hockey provincial championship Saturday night at Kin 1.
The 16-year-old centre chipped in a loose puck from the face-off circle, 5:01 into triple overtime for the only goal of the game, a 1-0 win over the Fraser Valley Phantom, forcing a third and deciding game on Sunday.
Victoria Byer took the shot from the point that produced the rebound Desjardins needed to bury the dagger, which followed only a few hours after the Phantom's double-overtime 2-1 victory over the Cougars to start the best-of-three final series. The goal came with the Phantom shorthanded after goalie Morgan Symington threw a punch at Cougar forward Hunter Mosher.
"We were pooped but we've been such huge rivals with that team for so long and they've won provincial three years in a row and we knew it was time to shut them down," said Desjardins. "It was so tiring but we did it.
"It was such a good team effort, we all worked so hard it was crazy, and we finally found a goal.
Our line hasn't scored in so long and we were due. I just tried to hit the net and it was a good shot."
Cougar defenceman Chantelle Beadman-Rolph nearly ended the evening game with 22 seconds left in the first 10-minute overtime session when she nailed the crossbar. Holly Gill of the Phantom rattled the iron with her shot four minutes into the second 20-minute overtime.
Cougars goalie Kelsey Roberts helped her team survive a frenzied Phantom power-play attack and made five saves in rapid succession around the 15-minute mark of the second OT. A couple minutes later, Cougars captain Ava Keis got hauled down on a breakaway but on the ensuing penalty shot was stuffed by Symington's glove.
Shots ended up 32-30 in favour of the Phantom
In the early game, the Cougars got off to a slow start but struck first, Madison Fjellstrom tapped in a rebound 10 minutes into the game. A penalty-filled second period featured no goals but great goaltending at either end from Roberts and Phantom starter Danielle Wierenga.
The winner came 12:41 into the second overtime session. Phantom captain Mikalya Ogrodniczuk cruised in from her point position to get her stick on a loose puck in front to trigger the celebration. The winner was scored by forward Taygen Rosner. Ogrodniczuk scored the tying goal 7:29 into the third period.
The Phantom outshot the Cougars 39-33.
Game 3 is set for Sunday at 11:45 a.m. at Kin 2.
