For seven long minutes, the Northern Capitals were back against the ropes Saturday night (Feb. 8).
Down 3-2 early in the third period, Prince George’s team needed to find a way to get back into the tense, physical contest a second night in a row against the Thompson-Okanagan Lakers and thanks to Brooklyn Hutchings’ and Brette Kerley’s quick skills, they did just that.
The Caps commenced a comeback with two goals in a span of 2:43, while Cadence Petitclerc-Crosby stood on her head to lead her team to the 4-3 victory at Kin 2 Arena.
They go up 2-0 in the three-game weekend series on home ice and improve to 12-10-2 on the season, four points back of the Fraser Valley Rush for second place in the BC Female Midget AAA League (FMAAA) standings.
Brooke Norkus and Keagan Goulet recorded multi-point games, getting to 10 points each in the team-scoring race.
Norkus opened the scoring for the Capitals, the 15-year-old’s second of the year, over six-and-a-half minutes into the first period.
Goulet and Captain Paige Outhouse provided the helpers on the power-play marker.
Thompson-Okanagan retaliated 2:03 later to tie it up 1-1 through to the locker room.
There were two power-play goals in the second stanza, one for each team starting with Caps’ forward Pyper Alexander’s ninth of her 2019-20 campaign with assists from Norkus and Hailey Armstrong.
The Lakers’ special teams tied the game with 62 seconds remaining in the period, then carried the momentum in the initial moments of the third by nabbing their first lead of the weekend at 3-2 also on a man-advantage.
After trailing for seven minutes, Hutchings’ fifth of the season brought the Capitals back in action thanks to critical passes from Ocean Andersen and Ella Boon, who returned last night after leaving Friday’s Pink in the Rink game with an injury.
Kerley’s game-winning goal came at 9:04 of the final frame, getting a pass from Goulet to pot her 14th of the year and carry her team to victory.
Petitclerc-Crosby won her sixth game between the pipes for Prince George.
There were 30 penalty minutes handed out Saturday, including two double-minors for head contact and 16 minutes altogether in the third period.
The Caps and Lakers wrap up the weekend this morning (Feb. 9) at 8:30 a.m. from Kin 2 Arena once more.
Huge thank you to #Esso and #GaryYoungAgencies for helping make our #PinkInTheRink night a success! @ckpgnews @mypgnow @PGMatters @BCHockey_Source @BCHockey_Female pic.twitter.com/rxvaQXNbr7
— Northern Capitals (@NCapitalsfmaaa) February 8, 2020
