It was a strange game, but it could hardly have wound up being more exciting. The Trent Excalibur came into their Baggataway Cup quarterfinal against Brock as heavy underdogs but pushed the Badgers to the brink before falling 10-9 in the third overtime period on a Davis Neal goal.
Brock got the first goal Friday night from Nick Karam, but Trent employed a methodical offensive approach and stellar team defence to pull out to a 4-1 lead with goals from four different players over the next 20 minutes of playing time.
Trent was controlling possession and defender Cole Murduff was doing an excellent job of blanketing CUFLA scoring leader Brandon Slade in one on one coverage.
Brock got one back on Karam's second marker before half time and got on the board first in the third quarter when Connor Ham snuck a crease shot in off the far post just 36 seconds into the second half.
The teams traded goals and Brock had the ball when suddenly, and literally, the lights went out. A tree falling on power lines knocked electricity out to the whole city of Lennoxville. Power wasn't able to be restored in time to resume the game Friday night, so the teams returned in the morning.
It looked like the fresh start was going to revive the West Division second-seeded Badgers and lead to them running away a bit from Trent, who was the East's fourth seed but knocked off Queen's to reach the final six.
Brock scored the first three goals in the first five minutes of the resumed game Saturday morning to pull ahead 7-5. Brock was controlling the play and Trent looked outclassed.
The Excalibur just never gave in, though, and they battled back with a pair of goals by Ryan Gunn to even things up 7-7 heading to the fourth quarter.
Davis Neal scored just before the midway point of the period to put the Badgers back ahead. The flow of the game was back and forth, with neither team forcing the issue often in the offensive zone but both creating some chances.
Finally, with 1:40 to play, Karam's hat trick goal gave Brock some insurance. They would need it, as it turned out.
Middie Garrett Eddy had been a dynamic force for Trent for most of the game and had a goal and two assists to show for it to that point of the game. Eddy weaved through the Brock defence to score one goal with 40 seconds left and the Badgers took a pair of penalties on the play.
With the six on four advantage, Eddy stepped into a shot from the shoulder and tied the game just 16 secons later.
Despite being shorthanded, Brock got a glorious chance for Slade in the slot in the waning seconds but he was turned aside by Trent goalie Kyle Holton. As Connor Ham drove to the net for yet another chance with 20 seconds to play, d middie Johnny Lynch (who had blocked a likely goal earlier in the quarter and had an excellent game for the Excalibur) had little choice but to tackle him.
So Brock began the first of two four-minute full overtime periods with a brief man up but weren't able to cash in. Both teams worked slowly when they had possession to set up chances late in the overtimes but nether could connect.
The pace picked up when it became sudden victory in the third overtime period. A little under two minutes in, Neal found himself with the ball and a shooting lane and he made the most of the opportunity, firing home a shot that ended the game just after 10 am, about seven hours before the Badgers would have to be back on the field facing the powerhouse McGill Redmen in the semifinals.
That game goes at 5 pm and can be viewed live via CUFLA's streaming.
Trent-Brock box score
Link to watch live streamed games
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