INNISFAIL – There was a full house at Wetaskiwin’s Co-op Place on Saturday night to watch senior men's playoff hockey.
Fans in the north-central Alberta city were eager for their Longhorns to give the visiting Innisfail Eagles some pay back on March 1 after their team lost 3-2 in double overtime on Feb. 23 in the second game of the best of five semifinals of the North Central Hockey League (NCHL) playoffs.
And for the diehard, standing-room crowd in Wetaskiwin last night, it was another heartbreak, a second consecutive 3-2 overtime loss to the Eagles.
The Birds are now just one win away from going to the NCHL finals.
The game in Wetaskiwin, which was live streamed on the Eagles Facebook page with Eagles director Jason Heistad calling the action, was a barn burner from start to finish.
The Longhorns opened the game’s scoring with a first period goal at 16: 26 by RJ Reed.
Innisfail outshot Wetaskiwin in the first period by a margin of 15-11.
The Eagles had their chances, especially during two power plays in the second half of the period but could not score against Longhorns’ netminder Devin Buffalo.
In the second period, the Longhorns extended their lead to 2-0 when Reed scored his second of the game at 14:47.
But the Eagles finally put one past Buffalo on an unassisted goal by Chase Thudium, and it was 2-1.
And it stayed that way after two periods of regulation play.
Innisfail once again outshot Wetaskiwin 15-6 and had a two-period edge of 30-17.
Prior to Game 3, Eagles head coach Ryan Dodd said he had wanted his team to do better on the power play, and his troops delivered at 9:10 of the third period on a goal by Chris Lijdsman.
The game was then tied at 2-2, and it looked like the Eagles had momentum, and they briefly did.
But the Birds ran into penalty trouble late in the third with back-to-back minors.
On the second man advantage the Longhorns pushed hard to get the potential winning goal past Eagles netminder Chance Griffith but the rookie held the fort, and it was overtime for the second game in a row.
After three periods Innisfail outshot Wetaskiwin 44-35.
The Eagles began the overtime period with a power play after the Longhorns’ Dalton Reum was penalized for cross-checking with no time remaining in the third.
The Birds put plenty of pressure on Buffalo but could not capitalize.
For the next three minutes the Eagles carried the play and appeared to have scored during a scramble in front of the Longhorns net but Buffalo once again saved the day for the home team.
But then at 9:15 Innisfail’s Mike Marianchuk blasted a shot off the wing to score an unassisted goal to win the all-important Game 3.
There was bedlam on the Eagles bench, and then on the ice as the players celebrated.
Game 4 is Sunday in the afternoon at the Innisfail Twin Arena.
Puck drop is at 5 p.m.
If the Eagles win March 2, they will then play the Lacombe Generals in the NCHL finals.
On Feb. 28 the Generals, who finished in first place in the regular season, defeated the Stony Plain Eagles 3-2 to win the other best-of-five semifinal three games to zero.
