Only a mere 130 spectators came to see the Bears taking on the Brockville Braves Tuesday night, but those people got treated to a thriller of Michael Jackson quality. Best of all, the Bears took away the 7:6 win.
The first period turned into a bit of a catastrophe for the Bears, barely limping out of it with a 1:4 result. Troy Bowditch scored first for the Braves at 5:27. Cade Helmer caught up with a goal at 10:17, assisted by Dempsey and Coltart. But Brockville turned up the heat with three consecutive scores, Colin Stacey first scored at 11:10, adding another goal at 12:20, followed by a score by Troy Bowditch at 17:19.
Benjamin Dirven added Brockville’s fifth goal to the score board at 8:19 in the second period. Bruce Coltart gave the Bears a much needed break with a power play goal at 17:42, assisted by Leeson and (surprise) Desjardins.
The third period turned into an all-out warfare, riddled with unpleasant penalties by the dozen. But the Bears were on a mission to turn their luck around, and they did so in turbo overdrive mode. Justin Trudel sunk in the first goal of the period at 1:07, assisted by Sloan and McLean. Theo Todd, assisted by Helmer, followed next with a power play goal at 7:37. The power play equalizer goal by Reid Russett and assisted by Todd and Broaders at 16:04 was at first strongly contested, but the officials declared it valid after a short consulting with the goal judge. An unassisted goal by Ryan Richardson just seconds later at 16:11 now even gave the Bears the lead. The joy didn’t last for long though, as the Bears just couldn’t keep their discipline for the last three minutes and the team collected a number of penalties. The punishment came swift with a power play goal by Brockville’s Justin McRae at 18:34.
The first overtime period saw no further scoring, although the Bears had a chance with a penalty shot by Bruce Coltart.
Ryan Gillespie missed his shot for Brockville at the following shootout, but Reid Russett didn’t and gave the Bears an edge. Colin Stacey couldn’t go past Victor Desjardins either, and Brent Broaders had no luck with Brockville’s goalie Antoine Bourdeau as well. The miss by Brockville’s Austin Paul finally propelled the Bears to the win. It was indeed a THRILLER of a game.
Article and Photos by Chris Uhlig
