Thunder draw first blood in OT

Just when the Thunder Bay KC Bulldogs thought they had stolen home ice advantage, they found themselves tangled in a most unpleasant Webb.
The Borderland Thunder rallied from a two-goal deficit in the second period as Kevin Webb’s breakaway goal just 28 seconds into overtime gave the SIJHL regular-season champs a 3-2 victory in Game 1 of the best-of-seven final before a jam-packed crowd at the Ice for Kids Arena last night.
“It’s a nice goal to get, especially when I missed a chance with two minutes left in regulation,” said Webb, whose second-period power-play goal put the Thunder back in business.
“We’re on a good high right now, but we can’t let it get to our heads,” he stressed. “We had these guys down 3-1 last year in the semi-final and it ended up going seven.”
Game 2 is slated here tonight at 7:30 p.m., with the series then moving to Thunder Bay for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Sunday night. The dates and times for Games 5-7 were unavailable at press time.
After a scoreless first period, Brady Laskowski put the Bulldogs in front at 6:57 of the second when he took Adam Fabiano’s pass from behind the Thunder net and rifled a shot past goalie Dan Hoehne.
SIJHl regular-season scoring champ Trevor Karasiewicz, whose 11 points had him tied with teammate Brian Dzijak for the playoff lead coming into last night’s game, made it 2-0 at 10:24.
The turning point came 1:24 later when Webb drilled home a loose puck with Laskowski in the box for high sticking.
The Thunder, who outshot the visiting Bulldogs 40-21 in the contest, continued to pour on the offence and finally netted the equalizer when Kyle Prystupa connected with the man advantage at 7:45 of the third for a 2-2 tie.
“We worked on our power play a little bit [Tuesday] morning,” said Webb. “We changed up a few things, focusing on putting people in front and playing for second shots.”
The Thunder had plenty of opportunities to win it in regulation time—the best coming with when some undisciplined penalties by Thunder Bay gave Borderland a two-man advantage for 1:30 midway through the period.
The Bulldogs’ downward spiral even involved Karasiewicz and Thunder Bay assistant coach Paul Gossmann. The pair disputed a roughing double minor against Derek Levanen so vociferously that Karasiewicz ended up with a 10-minute misconduct while Gossmann was handed a game misconduct.
The drama was short-lived in overtime as David Lloyd completed his triumphant return from a shoulder injury suffered in Game 1 of the semi-final series against the Dryden Ice Dogs by sending in Webb for the game-winner.
Thunder captain Josh Baxter missed last night’s game as he continues to recover from a knee injury suffered on the second last weekend of the regular season.
Defenceman Clayton Windigo also missed Game 1 with a shoulder injury, but was expected to be in the line-up for tonight’s game.