THUNDERBIRDS’ COMEBACK FALLS SHORT IN FINAL SECONDS
Story and Photos by Ben Kaufmann
County Courier
HIGHGATE – Down 3-0 after the second period, Missisquoi barreled out of the locker room with authority in Thursday’s season opener against Northeastern Clinton Central School (NY). The Thunderbirds scored three goals in the first five minutes of the final frame to force overtime, dropping a 4-3 heartbreaker when the Cougars scored with 4.2 seconds left in the extra period.
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Goals from Steven King, Jackson Porter, and Kyle Gilbert, the latter two on power-plays, left NCCS stunned as MVU (0-1) erased a three-goal deficit in the first 4:57 of the final period of regulation. The burst complimented a 31-save evening from PJ Bouchard and continued into overtime, where Missisquoi had the better of play before a Cougar wrist-shot found the back of the net at the eleventh hour.
“You can’t ask for a better example for them for the rest of the season,” said MVU coach Chris Hatin. “Hopefully we don’t find ourselves down by three goals again, but if you’re ever down by two, you’re showing them that you’ve all been on a team before where you’ve gotten three or four goals in a period, and we just proved that we can do that.”
MVU had surrendered a breakaway goal in the first, and it was only a breakaway-stopping rush out of his net from Bouchard late in the period, which allowed the Thunderbirds to head into the first intermission down just 1-0. The Cougars struck again five minutes into the second and added a power-play goal midway through the period to take a commanding 3-0 lead going into the third.
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“NCCS is a very good team, so we knew coming in that we were going to have to battle,” said Hatin, noting that his team dropped a 4-1 preseason scrimmage to these same Cougars. “We knew we were going to have to come in tonight and really bring it all.”
Isaac Overton found Hunter Mason, who wisely passed up a shot to set up King near the post for a simple finish to make it a 3-1 game just 44-seconds into the third period. Less than four minutes later and with MVU holding a two-man advantage, King set up a rocket of a slapshot from Mason. The shot was saved, but Porter was in a perfect position to tap in the rebound, making it 3-2.
Driven by one of 18 penalties, the power-play continued on as a one-man advantage. A mere 17 seconds after MVU’s second goal, another slapshot from Mason was saved. This rebound was corralled by Jake Benjamin and tapped to Porter before Gilbert, at the same MVU had scored its first two goals from, improbably knotted the score at 3-3.
“I think we definitely caught some bounces there in the third,” Hatin said. “But when you’re working hard and moving your feet, the bounces seem to find you and come your way.”
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Bouchard continued to shine through the end of the third and into overtime, most notably stopping a dangerous shorthanded breakaway from the Cougars toward the end of regulation. Porter and Mason each had good looks in the third. Mason had a steal-and-breakaway in overtime, which was denied by Cougar goalie Ethan Garrand, one of his 25 saves. Against the flow of play, NCCS flung a wrist-shot on goal in the waning seconds, and a tough hop helped the visitors earn the 4-3 win and salvage morale on the bus ride back to the Empire state.
For Hatin, he says no matter how painful the ending was, his team will glean plenty of good from Thursday’s comeback attempt.
“That’s the takeaway,” he said. “It’s a heartbreak to lose and not take a point from a game you battled back in. We were down and out between the second and the third, and we knew that dwelling on the things that weren’t going right for us wasn’t going to work.”
The Thunderbirds look to start a little stronger and get into the win column with another home game Saturday night against Lyndon.
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