The Okanagan Hockey Academy Elite 15s kicked up a hornet's nest in the third period and their only protection from the Coast Inn of the North Cougars was goaltender Shane Meadahl.
The 15-year-old from Lumby was besieged by wave after wave of Cougars, relentless in their efforts to put pucks behind him to try to tie Sunday's final at the Kal Tire midget tier 1 tournament.
With 2.3 seconds left, it finally happened. Cougar captain Isaiah Berra saw his options were limited to try jam the puck in from the side so he wheeled around the net and fed a pass to Jeremy Gervais, whose quick shot found the net.
Just when it seemed the weight had been lifted off the shoulders of the Cougars and their desperate attempts to capture their home tournament, the boys from the Academy spiked their title hopes, scoring twice in the shootout to carry them a 3-2 victory.
Josh Arnold pulled the trigger first in the skills contest, blasting a low shot in around the leg of Cougars goalie Jake Sweet and Tyler Maser followed up with a wicked snapshot. The Cougars missed their first shootout attempt when the puck got away from Chris Metcalfe and it rolled into the corner. Then, after Maser's laser, James Gordon tried to deke and had Meadahl flat on his back but was in too close to lift the puck over him.
"It was a nerve-wracking third period and we held that right to the bitter end but they managed to fight back and congratulations go out to them because they really dominated that third period," said Meadahl, whose team lost 4-0 to the Cougars on Friday. "We didn't have a great start to this tournament, especially against P.G., but we played some great hockey and it's great to be rewarded for it."
Gordon tied the game in the second period, after defenceman Cline Borle gave OHA the lead with the only goal of the first period. Lane French gave the Academy a 2-1 lead early in the third period, finishing off a slick individual effort to beat Sweet. But from that point on it was pretty much all Cougars.
In four of the Cougars' six games, the opposing goaltender was picked as the game MVP. Cougars head coach Rob Millar said his team showed its true character throughout the tournament and especially in the final, refusing to give up in the face of adversity, and hopes his players use that to their advantage the rest of the season.
"All 19 guys played well this weekend and they should be proud of themselves, and I'm sure their parents are," said Millar. "I'd much rather have a loss like this now than in provincials in March. As tough as it is to take, team sports are like that. Sometimes if one team outplays another one it doesn't mean you're going to win. I don't think there are too many people who like the shootout to decide games, it's like flipping a coin."
The Cougars were equally dominant in the first period but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. Berra saw the tears of frustration on the faces of his teammates, knowing how tough Sunday's loss was to swallow.
"Every guy on the team feels hurt by this one, no one left with anything but a heavy heart and those games happen when you put it all on the line and all the hard work just doesn't pay off," said Berra. "What we have to take out of this one is never give up. A lot of teams wouldn't have been able to get that goal with two seconds left and we did not let up at all. We gave ourselves a chance."
