The Williams Lake Red Demons fought off a two-goal deficit for a come-from-behind overtime win over Clearwater to take first place Sunday at the Williams Lake Bantam House Tournament.
The game winner came in surprising fashion when Jesse Wallace-Webb buried a shot into an empty net during the overtime frame to give Williams Lake the 3-2 win.
Clearwater, with 45 seconds left in overtime, pulled its goalie with nothing to lose. A tie would have given Williams Lake the win due to having less penalty minutes in the tournament, leaving the Clearwater club in a bit of a bind.
With the puck deep in Williams Lake’s end, Clearwater took its gamble, pulling its goalie off the ice for an extra attacker.
Moments later, Wallace-Webb scooped up a loose puck and carried it down the ice for the winner with 28 seconds remaining.
Williams Lake trailed for the majority of the contest, falling behind 2-0 just one minute into the third period.
Clearwater took a 1-0 lead when Matthew Loring beat Red Demons’ netminder Riley Lawryk just 2:10 into the second period.
Clearwater then went up 2-0 when Loring added his second of the contest.
From there, however, Williams Lake upped its tempo with Benn Taylor lighting the lamp on a two-man advantage to put the Red Demons within one.
Bobby Rankin sent the game to overtime with just two minutes remaining in the third period, capitalizing on a scramble in front of the net and beating Clearwater netminder Justin Sutherland.
The 10-team tournament ran from Friday, Jan. 14 to Sunday, Jan. 16 at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
Taking third place in the tournament was Williams Lake Grey, beating Lac la Hache 6-2 to claim the bronze.
Eos Ayres, tournament organizer, said everyone had a great time over the weekend.
“Everything went great,” she said. “I’d like to thank the out-of-town teams for braving our winter conditions to get here and all our local players who participated.
“They were a great bunch of kids on and off the ice.”
Ayres added the tournament would not have been possible without the help of all the parents and volunteers who helped everything run smoothly.
The other tournament results are as follows: Kamloops defeated the Williams Lake Rednecks, 5-4, to take fifth; Williams Lake Black downed Williams Lake Green, 5-2, for seventh; and the Logan Lake Leafs beat Williams Lake Blue, an all-girls team, 5-4 in overtime, to take ninth.
