A pair of overtime game winning goals has surged the Grande Prairie Storm to a 2-0 series lead against the Lloydminster Bobcats.
Over the weekend, the Storm hosted their first two playoff games of the AJHL playoffs.
Game one took place in front of a near 1,800 person crowd. After a scoreless first period, the Bobcats opened the scoring in the second period, followed by a goal from Storm Captain Colin Doherty to tie the game up at 1-1. Just after 5 minutes of Doherty’s goal, the Bobcats scored short-handed to give them a one goal lead going into the third period.
With just over a minute remaining, Max Leduc tied the game up for the Storm, leading to an overtime. During the extra period, the Storm dumped in the puck to the Bobcats zone, the Lloydminster netminder went to play the puck which resulted in a turnover placed perfectly on Zachary Wilson’s stick. Wilson took advantage of the moment and secured game one for the Storm, winning 3-2.
After an electric start to the series, Grande Prairie helped pile the arena with a roughly 2300 attendance. With some help from the home crowd, and a powerplay the Storm opened game two with a powerplay goal from Will Harris. However, it did not take the Bobcats long to respond as they scored just 50 seconds later. Ending the first period tied 1-1.
The game would not see another goal for the rest of regulation, leading to another overtime in Bonnets Energy Centre. In overtime, Will Harris was still riding the hot-hand, and netted the game winner, leaving the storm with a 2-1 win, and a 2-0 series lead.
Combined between the regular season and playoffs, the Storm now has 26 home wins in just 30 home appearances.
Games three and four, will take place Wednesday and Friday night in Lloydminster. If the Storm drop any of the two games, they will be back in town for Game 5 Sunday night.
