The Yellow Grass Wheat Kings and the Wawota Flyers will meet in the Big Six Hockey League’s final.
Corey Koski scored 9:15 into the third overtime period to lift the Wheat Kings to a 4-3 win over the Bienfait Coalers in Game 5 of their best-of-five league semi-final. The Wheat Kings reached the final in their first season in the Big Six.
For Bienfait, this year marks the first time they will miss out on the final since 2009.
Keegan Malaryk scored twice in an 87-second span in the first period to give the Coalers a 2-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old. The game remained scoreless until midway through the second, when Brendon Vertefeuille, Troy Miller and Devon Johnson tallied for the Wheat Kings to give them a 3-2 advantage.
Dallas Kickley’s goal with 30 seconds left in the middle frame tied the game at threes.
Neither team scored in the third period, the 10-minute first overtime period or the 20-minute second overtime stanza, setting the stage for Koski’s heroics in the third overtime.
Bienfait had forced a Game 5 with a 7-4 victory on March 5.
Wawota, meanwhile, continued their quest for a second straight Big Six title by beating the Redvers Rockets in a best-of-five. The Flyers punched their ticket to the league final with a 4-2 win on March 5. Riley Riddell scored twice for the Flyers in Game 5, including the winner late in the second period. Devin Stewart and Drake Bodie had the Flyers other goals.
Francis Lamotte scored both of the Rockets goals.
The final will be a best-of-seven series. A schedule has not yet been determined.
