ESTEVAN - The Pickering Panthers and College Francais de Longueuil have advanced to the semifinal round at the Centennial Cup, presented by Tim Hortons.
Cael Cavallin’s point shot 4:53 into the second overtime period found its way through for the winning goal in the Panthers' 3-2 victory over the Flin Flon Bombers Friday night at Affinity Place. The Panthers are the champions of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, while the Bombers were the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League finalists, but qualified because the SJHL champions, the Estevan Bruins, were the host team.
Flin Flon had a two-goal lead at one point. Jacob Vockler scored with 7:01 to play in the first period to open the scoring, and added his second of the game 5:36 into the middle frame. Both goals were on power plays.
The Bombers controlled most of the play, too, as they were outshooting Pickering 23-12 at one point late in the second period.
Dustin Hutton scored a short-handed goal for Pickering late in the second to give the Panthers some life.
Flin Flon had opportunities to restore the two-goal lead midway through the third period, but Pickering's Zachary Roy came up with big saves off of Vockler and Bombers’ captain Zak Smith, and Rylan Thiessen hit the crossbar.
Pickering tied the game with less than eight minutes to play in the third on another short-handed goal, this time by Matthew Altomare. His shot hit the post, then the puck bounced in off the back of Bombers’ goaltender Cal Schell.
Neither team scored in the first overtime period, but it wasn't from a lack of chances.
Flin Flon had a power late in the first overtime and early in the second extra frame, but couldn't convert.
Roy made 46 saves for Pickering. Schell had 37 saves for Flin Flon.
A large crowd of Bomber fans attended the game. They chanted "Let's go Bombers!" once the game was finished.
In the other game, College Francais de Longueuil edged the Summerside Western Capitals 4-3. Longueuil won the Ligue de Hockey Junior AAA du Quebec, while Summerside captured the Maritime Hockey League.
Summerside came out strong, with Isaac Wilson and Sid McNeill scoring in the opening 11 minutes of the game to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead. But Tommy Bouchard and Owen Stammer scored 1:41 apart in the final two minutes of the opening frame to tie the game.
Mickael Dupont scored 5 1/2 minutes into the second to give Longueuil a 3-2 lead, but Aaron Brown's goal drew Summerside even.
Maxime Gagne's goal 9:06 into the third was the winner for Longueuil. After he scored, there wouldn't be a stoppage in play for nearly 10 minutes, and the official’s whistle wound sound just twice before the game was done.
Simon Berube (Longueuil) stopped 27 of 30 shots he faced, while Felix-Anthony Ethier (Summerside) made 28 saves.
The start of the second game was delayed by 90 minutes due to the length of the previous game.
Semifinals are scheduled for Saturday. The Alberta Junior Hockey League's Brooks Bandits will face Longueuil in the first matchup at 4 p.m. Brooks beat Longueuil 5-2 in the round robin. Pickering will play the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Dauphin Kings in the other semifinal at 7:30 p.m.
Brooks and Dauphin earned byes to the semifinals by winning their respective pools. .
SASKTODAY.ca will have coverage of the games.
