Overtime Victory Brings McKinney Hockey Back To .500

contributed by: stevekirk

Starting slowly considering how the game would finish, McKinney’s Varsity hockey team almost saw their 5-game point streak come to an end against a very tough and determined Midlothian team.  But even though down two goals with less that 2 minutes to play, McKinney never gave up and their tenacity and teamwork proved the deciding element in the game.
 
McKinneyscored early with a goal by Jacob Brown at 1:09, assisted by Will Tucker and Michael Tallo.  But then, for some reason, the wheels seemed to come off.  Midlothian struck right back seven seconds later to tie the score on a goal by Tanner Dickerson assisted by Blake Parker and Joseph Dancy.  The Panthers then added to their lead with a tally by Brent Jones assisted once again by Dancy.  Midlothian took a 2 to 1 lead into the first intermission.
 
On a clean sheet of ice to start the second period, Midlothian added yet another goal, this one coming at 4:00 scored by Dancy, assisted by McClain Williamson, and a minute later, the Panthers increased their lead to 4 to 1 on a goal by Kyle Carpenter assisted once more by the seemingly-always-near-the-net Dancy.  Especially given the way McKinney played most of the first and second periods, Midlothian took what seemed an insurmountable 4 to 1 lead into the third period.
 
Not to be defeated so easily though, McKinney somehow found the will to battle back.  At the 7:18 mark, Brown got his second goal of the game, assisted again by linemate Michael Tallo.  Brandon Siler scored next for McKinney at 12:17, assisted by Tucker, to bring McKinney to within one.  However, on a power play resulting from Brown’s hooking call, Midlothian scored again at 1:33 to give the Panthers another two goal lead.  It looked like McKinney had no chance to catch up from down 5 to 3.
 
But if they thought they had won, Midlothian had simply failed to comprehend the intense perseverance of this McKinney team.  Coming out of the box with only 33 seconds left in the game and an empty net behind him, McKinney’s Jacob Brown scored his hat trick goal (assisted by Ty Holt) to narrow the margin to one.  It looked like that might be McKinney’s last gasp, but then with 1.3 seconds on the clock, McKinney’s Ryan Pikl backhanded a shot 60 feet from the left point through lots of traffic and past Panther goalie Jimmy Case to tie the game and send it into overtime.
 
About midway through the five-minute overtime, after a game-saving blocked shot by McKinney defenseman Brad Bell, Pikl fed a pass out of the defensive zone onto the stick of Brown who, in full stride, poked it past the defenseman and found himself all alone at center ice with Midlothian’s goalie the only thing between himself and his fourth goal of the game.  With deliberate precision and several deeks, Brown completed his high-speed break away by lifting a stick-side shot over the shoulder of Jimmy Case for the win.  And – no kidding – THE CROWD WENT WILD!  This was definitely the most exciting McKinney Varsity hockey game of the year so far.
 
McKinney’s exciting overtime victory brings its season record to .500 (4-4-2), extending to six their streak of games with at least one point.  It also advances them up the standings from seventh into fourth place in the division.  Next game is Thursday, December 9 at 8:45 p.m. against Arlington-Martin at the Euless StarCenter.

Article by Jim Pikl