It was his 10th goal of the season for the Quesnel Millionaires, but Chris Blessing’s goal 1:29 into the second overtime period was much more than a winning goal.
Blessing scored the overtime winner in Sunday’s game against the visiting Westside Warriors when he skated down the boards along the left side on a two-on-one with Spencer Graboski.
“I knew right away I was going to take a shot,” Blessing said with a huge smile as the victory music blared from the Mills dressing room.
“He [Warriors netminder Cole Holowenko] left the whole glove-side open.”
Blessing angled into the face off circle and made no mistake with a wrist shot that beat Holowenko glove side.
Yes, Blessing’s goal gave the Mills a 4-3 win over the visiting Westside Warriors.
But more importantly the goal turned around a weekend that began with an 8-2 loss to the Warriors Friday night and an 8-4 loss to the Penticton Vees Saturday night.
More importantly the win, in the Mills last home game of the regular season, coming off Blessing’s stick, gave the keepers of the Vault some breathing room.
“I think this is the biggest game we’ve won all year,” Blessing said.
The Mills now have a five point lead over the Prince George Spruce Kings in the race for the last playoff spot in the BCHL interior conference with just three games to go in the regular season.
The Mills will clinch a playoff birth with a win or a loss by the Spruce Kings.
Blessing’s goal also saved a strong performance by the Mills, an effort they let slip away in the third period.
“I thought we did a lot of good things tonight,” Mills coach Doug Hedley said.
“It was our best team effort in a long time.”
Leading 3-2 going into the third, thanks to a go ahead goal by Chris Allbee midway through the second period, the Mills eased up on the forecheck and pulled back to avoid odd-man rushes.
“Allbee’s line has probably been our most consistent line in the last few games,” Hedley said.
“He, Shawn Mueller and Thomas Hardy have really picked it up.”
The plan worked for much of the third period, in large part to some big saves by Mills netminder Bryton Udy.
But the Warriors kept pressing and as appeared inevitable for much of the third period, Westside tied the game at the 17:41 mark of the third period when Quinn Gould jammed home a loose puck in a crowd in front of Udy.
Udy, who got the call in goal for the Mills following a disappointing start the night before against the Penticton Vees, was named the first star of the game.
He stopped 39 of 42 shots, including a diving cross-crease save in the first overtime period that had the crowd gasping in amazement.
“Just stop the puck,” Udy said was the only thing going through his mind as he dove across the crease to make the save.
“I felt I had let my teammates down last night and I wanted to make up for it tonight.”
“He was one of our top three guys tonight for sure,” Hedley said.
Unlike the Friday game against the Warriors and the game against the Vees, the Mills did not fall behind early in the first.
Rather, the Mills had a 2-0 lead 15 minutes into the first period.
Derek Huisman made it 1-0 for the Mills five minutes into the first period with the help of Chris Blessing and Rigby Burgart.
Michael Spring gave the Mills a 2-0 lead at 15:46 of the first period when he tucked in a rebound off a Malcolm Gould shot. Chris Kerr also collected a helper on the goal.
“Getting those two goals was huge,” Hedley said.
Westside closed the gap to one goal with less than 30 seconds to play in the first frame on a goal by Travis Blanleil and then tied the score at 2-2 on a goal by Kyle Singleton 1:27 into the first period.
The Mills now hit the road for the last three games of the regular season, beginning with a stop Friday in Westside to face the Warriors, then Penticton Saturday to face the Vees and then Vernon to face the Vipers Sunday afternoon.