U18 Canadians Pick Up One Point vs. Rockets Including Saturday Thriller

The U18 AAA Greater Vancouver Canadians picked up only one out of a possible four points in Kelowna against the U18 Okanagan Rockets, but that one point from Saturday’s game featured one of the greatest comebacks on the season. 

On Saturday at the MNP Place, the Rockets took what looked like an insurmountable 4-0 lead, with two goals in each of the first two periods, but the Canadians stormed back with four third-period goals for a 4-4 tie.

Lucas Epp began the comeback with a power-play goal with 12:24 left in regulation, and Dawson Sucke added his own power-play marker with 10:52 remaining, cutting the deficit to 4-2. Maxfeld Shin then scored with 9:16 left to make it a one-goal game, but Graham Kilpatrick was penalized for a hooking call with only 3:45 to go. Sucke, however, scored his second goal of the game, short-handed, with only 3:28 left, forcing overtime. Overtime, though, solved nothing, as the two teams skated away with a 4-4 tie. Jack Taylor stopped 32 shots for GVC in the tie.

On Sunday, the Canadians fell 4-1, as the Rockets scored three goals in the final 10:16 to break a 1-1 tie. The game was scoreless until the Rockets made it 1-0 four minutes in the third period, and then A.J. Abell tied it up at 1-1 with 11:20 remaining in regulation. But the Rockets, who fired 13 shots at Marcus Taylor in the third period (and 42 in total), scored the next three goals to pull off the win. Taylor stopped 29 shots through the first two periods and made 38 saves total in the game.

Next up, the Canadians (6-17-2-1)  will take on the U18 Vancouver North West Hawks (10-13-0-1) this weekend on January 20-21 in a home-and-home series. The first game is at the Hollyburn Country Club in West Vancouver on Saturday at 8:45 p.m., while the series finale is at the Richmond Olympic Oval on Sunday at 11:15 a.m. Both games can be streamed live at playfullscreen.com.