The combination of Curtis Dickson and Dane Dobbie was too much on Saturday night, Sept 10, and as a result, the Langley Thunder have a 2-0 series lead in the Mann Cup championships after taking game two over the Peterborough Lakers 15-14 in sudden-death overtime at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.
Trailing by a goal in the dying seconds of regulation, Connor Robinson won a race to a loose ball behind the Langley net after a missed attempt at the empty net. And with less than six seconds on the clock, Robinson whipped a pass down the floor to Dickson for a two-on-one break and Dickson passed up the shot and sent the ball across to Dobbie to force overtime just before the buzzer to send the game beyond 60 minutes.
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The Lakers returned the favour in the 10-minute overtime period as Thomas Hoggarth scored with 4.4 seconds to play, tying the score at 14 and forcing a sudden-death period. And it took nearly six minutes (5:41 to be exact) before Dickson again set up Dobbie, much to the chagrin of the home fans.
“C-Rob made a heck of a pass, rifled it right into my stick and I found Dobs in front and he obviously put it in,” Dickson said of the equalizer which showed just 0.1 second left on the clock in regulation.
For the second straight game, Dickson was Langley’s Player of the Game following his five goals and 11 points. Goaltender Frank Scigliano gave him a run for the award as he made 68 saves as the Thunder were outshot 82-61 as the Lakers were able to generate numerous second-chance opportunities.
“They get a lot of second chances, they get a lot of possessions, so we know we have to take advantage of the ones we do get,” Dickson said.
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The game began with Langley scoring four of the first five goals before the Lakers tied things at four with a 3-0 run and then added two more in the second to go ahead 6-4. The Thunder would tie things up at six heading into the final frame before the flood gates opened as the teams alternated, scoring five times apiece at the end of regulation.
“We had a bit of a slow start, but our defence was good throughout the game, keeping it close and then obviously the flood gates opened a bit there towards the end,” Dickson said. “That’s a typical Mann Cup game there, back and forth, one-goal game going each way so those are the games you have to find a way to win.”
In overtime, Hoggarth scored a pair while Kiel Matisz had the other Lakers goal with Chase Scanlan, Robert Church and Dickson responding for the Thunder, setting up Dobbie’s overtime winner.
After playing nearly 76 minutes, the teams are off on Sunday, before the series resumes on Monday with game three.
“It’s 2-0 or 1-1, that’s a big difference but again, at the end of the day it is the first to four to win. Two means nothing if we come out and lay an egg on Monday. We will enjoy these wins, enjoy our day off but this thing is far from over,” Dickson said.
While Dickson led the way with 11 points, Dobbie finished with four goals and seven points. Robinson (one goal, three assists) and Church (two goals, two assists) each had four-point games and Dylan Kinnear (one goal, two assists) and Scanlan (two goals, one assist) had three-point games,
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