Digging deep with delicious result

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It seemed like wishful thinking that it would end without 19-year-old captain Colton Dach making the trip, and a steady force on defense, 19-year-old Elias Carmichael, unable to play against a top-10 CHL team.

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What made matters even worse was when 18-year-old forward Max Graham had to leave the game with an injury less than five minutes into the first period.

Maybe the saving grace was few players were keenly aware of the missteps of an eight-game losing streak in the Rose City, nor a winless slide at Veteran Memorial Coliseum that dated back to 2014?

Regardless, Andrew Cristall erased all of the bad and turned it into good with a breakaway goal in a 4-3 come-from-behind overtime win.

It was the 17-year-old’s second goal of the game, after playing the part of a three-goal rally in the third period.

Down 2-0 after 40 minutes, the Rockets finally jammed one home when Marcus Pacheco scored a power-play goal for his third of the season. The sophomore forward equaled his goal total from all of last year.

Despite that goal 33 seconds into the final frame, Hawks forward James Stefan looked to ice the game when his seeing-eye wrist shot beat Talyn Boyko between the legs to make it 3-1.

Playing with just five d-men after veteran Noah Dorey was ejected in the first period after receiving a five-minute major and game misconduct for slew footing, the pesky road team wouldn’t go away.

Cristall would make it 3-2, before Nolan Flamand, with the goalie pulled, found the back of the net with five seconds left to go in regulation time.

It was shockingly 3-3.

With a point well earned, could the Rockets pull off the impossible after losing a heartbreaker in their previous game against the Winnipeg Ice, when they essentially lost the game with a mental miscue seven seconds after tying the score at four?

Yep.

Cristall made sure of that when he picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone in three-on-three overtime, skated in on a breakaway and managed to just slide a backhand attempt past Winterhawks goaltender Dante Giannuzzi.

Game over.

Losing streak erased.

As valuable as the two points were in the standings, last night’s win revealed previously unexposed character.

Hey, the Kelowna Rockets never enter a game not believing they can’t win, but now they have physical proof that amazing things can be accomplished.