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Saturday, December 16, 2017

COMETS CROWN KINGS IN OT

Former Captain Jackson Cressey took part in a ceremonial face-off.
Photo courtesy of Damon James
The Coquitlam Comets go into the Christmas break on a winning note after a 2-1 overtime win over the Island division leading Powell River Kings. Click here for boxscore

Troy Robillard - Photo courtesy of Damon James
The Express wore their Comets uniforms in their annual tribute to the junior team that played from the 60's into the early 80's in Coquitlam.

Comets manager Sandy Michie would have been very proud how today's modern day Coquitlam team played for 63 plus minutes. They were solid in their own zone, the penalty killing was strong and were full value for the victory.

The Comets started the game by peppering the Powell River goal with pucks. They forced Kings goaltender Matteo Paler-Chow to be on his game early on. His best save off the first period came on a rebound chance for Christian Sanda.

Eventually the Comets broke through. Eric Linell started the play by navigating his way out of his own zone. Then when he entered the Kings zone he fed the puck back to Lucas Wong who let a point shot go that was tipped home by captain Alex Ambrosio.



The second period belonged to the Comets penalty killers. They were whistled for three separate infractions in just under six minutes. When the Kings were able to generate chances they had to face a dialed in Brock Hamm.

Jason Fortier leads a timeout - Photo courtesy of Damon James
Entering the third period the Kings had all five of the game's powerplays. The Comets finally got their first in the opening moments of the third period.

Jason Fortier tweaked his defenseman tonight. He played Jordan Schulting at centre with Jonathan Sheardown and Tyler Chyzowski who dressed for his second straight outing as an AP. That line consisting of two natural defensemen as forwards certainly didn't look out of place.

Four minutes into the third the Comets lost the services of Landon Fuller who got cut diving back to break up a play at his own blueline. To make matters worse, Fuller was called for tripping and didn't return to the game.

Eric Linell celebrates OT winner
Photo courtesy of Damon James
The remaining Express blue liners all stepped up in his absence the rest of the way. They weathered two more Kings powerplays in the final 6 minutes of the game.  The Comets finished the game with a perfect 8 for 8 night on the penalty kill.

Powell River was finally able to get a puck past a very stingy Brock Hamm. They needed a crafty deflection by Hunter Findlater of a Carmine Buono point shot with 1:07 remaining in the third period to break Hamm's shutout bid and tie the game at 1.

This was a very entertaining game for 60 minutes. The teams each had 22 shots through three periods.

Powell River had a decent start to overtime with puck control and giving the Comets trouble coming out of their zone.



Once the Comets broke free Troy Robillard rushed into the Kings zone, then found a lane to the net and took full advantage of it and Eric Linell buried the rebound giving the Comets a 2-1 win heading into the Christmas break. For Linell it was his second overtime winner in just over a week.

Now the Express are off on their Christmas break until December 29th when they will travel up to Merritt. They will return home the next night vs. Chilliwack.

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