WEST SALEM — Mikah Vail pounced on an unexpected opportunity and gave his Aquinas/Holmen/G-E-T/Luther boys hockey team a victory for which is had to work very hard on Thursday.
A misplayed puck gave the sophomore forward a one-on-one chance at the goal, and his shot beat West Salem/Bangor’s Noah Johnsrude in the second overtime to give the Avalanche an exciting 3-2 win at the Panther Den.
The Panthers (4-15) took the Avalanche (11-11-1) to extra periods for the second time this season, and the Aquinas co-op won the first one 4-3 at the OmniCenter on Dec. 12. Vail’s winning goal finished off a contest in which the Avalanche never trailed.
“They are a hard-working group, and you may not see that by looking at their record,” Avalanche coach Charlie Marshall said of the Panthers. “They are physical, and they took us to overtime the first time, so this is no surprise to me.
“They matched our level of play. We didn’t capitalize a few times in regulation, but we found a way in overtime.”
Vail’s goal answered the tying score registered by Tyler Meyer — his 21st of the season — with an assist from Terryn Boland — his 13th — early in the third period. That goal was short-handed and tied the score for a second time.
Junior Jack Barth started the scoring with an assist from Hunter Downing 6 minutes, 41 seconds into the first period for the Avalanche. Kaleb Kepler tied it up at 1 for West Salem/Bangor off an assist from Aydan Hillyer midway through the second period. The goal was Kepler’s first.
The Avalanche went back ahead at 2-1 after Jack Franzini set up Downing for a score nearly 3 minutes later, and that’s where things stood when Meyer knotted things up in the third.
The winning goal came when Meyer, with just Johnsrude behind him, tried to take the puck toward the center line but lost it as he skated up the ice. Vail seized immediate control of the puck with plenty of space to set up his shot, which resulted in his team-high 14th goal of the season.
“Mikah’s been there for us all year and really stepped up for his moment,” Marshall said.
Mason Kelm had 25 saves for the Avalanche and Johnsrude 33 for the Panthers.
West Salem/Bangor has completed its regular season. The Avalanche are scheduled to host Oregon at the OmniCenter in a 7 p.m. game Saturday.
AREA GIRLS HOCKEY SCORE
Viroqua co-op 1, Black River Falls co-op 0
