BRANTFORD, ON- The Georgetown Raiders made their way to the Gretzky Centre for the Thursday night matchup against the Brantford 99ers. Freshly signed forward Artem Narbekov made his debut for the 99ers. Aiden Berry made his 4th start of the season for Brantford, and Finn Wilson got his 2nd start in between the pipes for Georgetown.
The Raiders started the game off controlling the tempo, causing the 99ers to take 3 defensive penalties in the opening frame however, Georgetown’s power play could not get the puck behind Aiden Berry, and the game was scoreless after 20 minutes of play with the Raiders leading the shot category 25-7.
Just over 2 minutes into the 2nd period, it was Quinn Tavares of the Raiders opening the games’ scoring, sneaking a rebound past a sprawled out Berry. About midway through the period, Raiders Luke Tuin went to the penalty box for interference, giving Brantford their first power play opportunity of the game. Unfortunately for the 99ers, a turnover lead to an odd man rush for Georgetown and Kristian Lamanna ripped a shorthanded goal past Berry to double Georgetown’s lead. The 99ers still had time left on the man advantage, so they got back to work. A stroke of luck came their way when a Georgetown defenseman attempted to clear the puck down the ice, but the puck bounced off the body of Brantford’s Garrett McCabe and into the net before Wilson could even react. Less than 2 minutes later in the neutral zone, Narbekov chipped the puck up to Kyle Ferguson who raced into the offensive zone from the left wing and ripped the puck far side post and in behind Wilson to tie the game for Brantford, giving Artem Narbekov his 1st career point in the OJHL. With just over a minute remaining in the period, Quinn Tavares fired a wrap around backhand over the blocker of Berry to give Georgetown a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes of play. Brantford edged out Georgetown on the shot clock 18-17.
Georgetown started the final frame with an early power play opportunity, but they were unable to double their lead, going 0/4 on the night on the man advantage. 4 minutes into the period, Raiders Aaron Andrade was called for a slashing penalty. Midway through the man advantage, 99ers captain Jonah Cochrane carried the puck into the offensive zone and slid it over to the right to a wide open Connor Koropatnicki, who skated the puck in and sent a wrist shot to the net which squeaked under the arm of Finn Wilson, once again tying the game. About 12 minutes left in the contest, a scramble in front of the 99ers goal lead to Raiders Carter Real scoring his 1st of the season, once again putting Georgetown up ahead by 1. Fast forward to just under 6 minutes left, 99ers Kyle Burton received a stretch pass at centre ice from Jack Pancoe. Burton carried the puck in on the left side to take it around the net, but sent the puck net front to Tyler Renneboog who snapped it into the goal tying the game at 4. 60 minutes wasn’t enough for these teams, and the game went to overtime. Brantford outshot Georgetown 8-6.
Just over 3 minutes into 4-on-4 overtime, Brantford’s Kyle Ferguson danced around the Georgetown defender and dished a pass to Tyler Renneboog who attempted a one-timer but the shot was blocked. However the puck bounced over to a wide open Kyle Burton who wristed the biscuit past Wilson, winning the game for the hometown 99ers.
The Brantford 99ers are back in action on Wednesday at the OJHL Governors Showcase in Buffalo, NY where they will play 2 games. First on the 27th against the Toronto Patriots at 4:30pm ET, and again on the 28th against the Lindsay Muskies at 5:30pm ET.
