The Sharks and Regina Rebels shake hands following Game 1's double-OT finish. (Submitted photo/Brendan Kramer)

By Martin Martinson

Take 1-0 series lead

U18 Northwest Sharks open provincial final with double-OT win

Mar 21, 2024 | 4:07 PM

It was a long night for fans spent on the edge of their seats, as the Northwest Sharks U18 AA team opened their provincial final series with a bang Wednesday night at the Access Communications Centre, taking home a 3-2 double-overtime win over the top-seeded Regina Rebels.

First-year forward, Jayce Brown scored the game-winner for the Sharks just under seven minutes into the second overtime period to deliver the team a third-straight OT victory on their playoff run, to now sit just a win away from a provincial championship.

“It seems to be right in our wheelhouse, but would be nice not to have to get there in the next one,” head coach, Brendan Kramer said with a laugh reflecting on the team’s penchant for OT heroics. “We came out with a little bit of a slow start in the first period and got outshot 39-11 by the end of two, but our goalie, Shelbi Thunderblanket really held us in there and we really came alive in the third.”

Thunderblanket would go on to make 56 saves on 58 Regina shots to backstop the Sharks to the win. It was a spectacular performance that kept the team within a single, down 2-1 into the final minute of the third, when Jersie Andersen knotted things up with her second of the game and fifth of the playoffs, coming with just 50 seconds to go to force extra time.

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Following a scoreless first overtime period, Brown’s winner in the second-OT sealed the contest in the Sharks’ favour, capitalizing on a 2-on-1 rush for the game-winner, snapping a shot past the Regina goalie glove-side.

Now leading the best-of-three provincial final series 1-0, the Sharks will return to action Friday night in Regina, with a chance to close things out in their bid for the first provincial championship in U18 AA Sharks franchise history.

If needed, the series will return to North Battleford Sunday for Game 3 at the Access Communications Centre.

Sharks’ full provincial finals schedule:

Game 1: 3-2 Sharks, final. Series 1-0 Battlefords

Game 2: Fri., Mar. 22 at Regina’s Murray Balfour Arena (7:30 p.m.)

*Game 3: Sun., Mar. 24 at North Battleford’s Access Communications Centre (5:30 p.m.)

*If needed.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @MartyMartyPxP1