The Haines Junction One-Timers had a rat problem on Sunday. They dealt with it in a shootout.
In a come from behind performance, the One-Timers took a 5-4, shootout win over Whitehorse’s Roadhouse Rats to win the goodie division of the Whitehorse Oldtimers Tournament at Takhini Arena on Sunday.
The win, which made them undefeated in the hockey tourney, came after the Haines Junction crew allowed three goals in two minutes in the first period to go down 4-1.
“We knew we could skate with these guys – we beat them last night – and we had some help from some of the younger guys from Haines Junction today who got on the bench and helped out with some coaching and some pointers,” said One-Timers captain Sean Sheardown. “Everybody just played well and we ended up having some guys with some good hands in the shootout.”
Down 4-1, the One-Timers began their climb back into the game on a goal from Chris Williams with 44 seconds left in the first. The Junction’s Tyson Wirth then scored back-to-back goals, the first coming on a pass from behind the net, one-timing it for a goal. Wirth then scored on a slapper from the blue line to tie the game.
After an inconsequential overtime, Wirth and Ken Anderson both scored in a shootout to give the One-Timers the goodie title, in the tournament’s highest division.
“We’ve come close before but, at least in the time I’ve been in it, we’ve never won it,” said Sheardown. “It was good to play the Rats. They’re a bunch of good guys and they beat us rather regularly. So (last night) was the first time we’ve beat them in the last four or five years.”
Giving the Rats their goals were Glen Heinbigner, Jerry Wald, Laurie Malo and Peter Johnston. Bill Greenway, who scored in the shootout, also had two assists.
Scoring Haines Junction’s first goal was Rick Smith.
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Friday Oldtimers get shootout win over Carmacks
The whipper division, the tournament’s middle division, was also decided by shootout.
After a total of 10 shooters, Nu-Line Powerline Contractors took a 3-2 win over the Carmacks Eagle Rock Flyers.
Nu-Line, who was playing under the name Friday Oldtimers, is a team made up of players who play pick-up every Friday.
“Every Friday night the boys come out to play pick-up hockey, so no refs, no set lines – we just mix it up every week,” said Friday Oldtimers captain Mike Gau.
Friday’s Guy Gorrell kept the team alive in the shootout before Brad Barton scored the game-winner. Barton also scored his team’s first goal in the first period, 10 minutes before teammate Kyle Strukoff scored.
The Friday Oldtimers went undefeated in the tournament, registering two ties along the way.
“We got stuck with the five games, everyone else in the tournament had four,” said Gau. “So we were pretty ragged by the end of the game here.”
Scoring for Carmacks were Greg Bull and Warren Kapaniuk.
Dease Lake dominates dauber division final
A new indoor rink in Dease Lake has given the Dease Lake Rams more ice-time and a little more pep in their skating.
That could be seen in the dauber division final as the Rams shut out the Whitehorse Fossils 7-0.
“We have a building with an ice-sheet in Dease Lake now, but it’s not full sized,” said Rams captain Darren Loverin. “So we get to skate more in Dease now than we used to before. We only had outdoor ice before.
“So it’s nice. The guys are skating a lot better.”
The blowout, oddly enough, came just a day after the two teams tied 2-2.
“Their goalie (Glen Traverse) stood on his head yesterday,” said Loverin. “We peppered him yesterday but we just couldn’t beat him. Today we found the holes.
“It was a good game. Their goalie had a bad game today compared to yesterday. Yesterday he played awesome.”
It was the Rams’ second time in the tournament, placing third last year. They went undefeated this year, the 2-2 tie on Saturday being the team’s only blemish on their tournament record.
The Fossils squad was made up of players from the Whitehorse Oldtimers Hockey League.
In the final, Stewart Williams and Ed van Randen both had two goals. Loverin, Ken Cook and Rick McLean also scored.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com