Despite winning three straight games, a loss on Sunday means the Cold Lake Jr. B Ice will continue their fight for the NEAJBHL championship title in Game 6 against the Wainwright Bisons.
Cold Lake's first win of the weekend came in Game 3 at home on Friday night. As usual, the home team got off to a slow start in the first period allowing a goal from Bisons forward Brant Saretsky less than two minutes into the first period. The score stayed at 1-0 for the remainder of the period.
Heading into the second frame, the Ice finally hit their stride at the 7:35 mark. Ice forward Devon Hascarl finally got the game going for the Ice with a nifty goal beating Bisons starting goaltender Cade Spencer to even the score. Less than two minutes later off a pass from Tanner Corbeil, Connor Fynn furthered Cold Lake's lead.
With a 2-1 lead, the hometown favourites kept their momentum going into the third period. Just under three minutes in, Ice defenceman Zach Zarowny found the back of the net bringing the score to 3-1. Wainwright made one final attempt to close the gap late in the period, pulling their goaltender in favour of an extra attacker. Ice forward Christian Nypower took advantage of the empty net securing a win with slightly over one minute of play left. The Ice finished the game 4-1 against the Bisons.
The Ice lead the series 2-1 as they headed into Game 4 on Saturday again at home. It was deja vu as the Wainwright Bisons started the scoring early on in the first period. Just 47 seconds into the game, Bisons defence Stefan Freter managed to sneak the puck past Ice net minder Bolton Pouliot. Five and a half minutes in, Hascarl evened the score on a power play goal following a two minute holding penalty to Bisons player Saretsky.
Eight minutes into the second period, Bisons defenceman Spencer Gosselin scored the lone goal of the second giving the visiting team a 2-1 lead heading into the final period. In the final period of Game 4, the Ice fought hard not to loose their lead in the series. It wasn't until nine minutes into the third, Cold Lake's first line of Nypower, Hascarl and Jamie Miller tied up the game thanks to a goal from Nypower.
Keeping the score at 2-2, the Ice and Bisons headed into overtime. Ice forward Nypower stepped up his game, scoring the game winning goal at 5:35 in OT and bringing Cold Lake up 3-1 in the series.
The teams were back in Wainwright on Sunday night for Game 5 with Cold Lake looking for one final win to finish the series. After a two minute penalty to Ice's Curtis Witney, the Bisons were first on the board again with a power play goal from Zach MacKay just under the half way mark into the first.
Heading into the the second period Wainwright was up 1-0. The Bisons, benefitting from home ice advantage, continued their momentum into the second. Almost eight minutes into the period, forward Taylor Schubada got the puck past Pouliot to give the Bisons a two goal lead. Five minutes later, MacKay got his second goal of the night furthering the home team's lead to 3-0.
Despite heading into the final frame short handed after a 10 minute misconduct to Cold Lake's Mackenzie Zarowny late in the second, Connor Fynn put the Ice on the board nine seconds into the third. The Ice finally hit their stride with forward Nicholas Astasiewicz closing up the gap four and a half minutes in. Bisons answered that goal six minutes later, Schubada found the back of the net bringing the score to 4-2. Cold Lake wasn't giving up their hopes of a Game 5 win yet. With just under six minutes left in the game, Holden Daley fired the puck in leaving the Ice only trailing by one. With neither teams able to manage another goal, the Bisons finished the game 4-3 over the Ice.
The Ice lead the final series 3-2. Wainwright will be back in Cold Lake on Friday, Mar. 27 for Game 6 of the playoffs. Puck drop is 8:30 p.m.
