Playoff drama: Spud Kings go overtime again, but rally to beat Pueblo Bulls to tie best-of-5 series
Published at
IDAHO FALLS – The Spud Kings kept their season alive with a wild 3-2 double-overtime win over the Pueblo Bulls on Friday in the first round of the Dineen Cup playoffs.
Technically, a loss wouldn’t have ended the season for Idaho Falls, but losing the first two games at home in a best-of-5 series doesn’t bode well for playoff success.
“It’s unimaginable what a win means tonight, especially in double overtime,” Spud Kings general manager Erik Hudson said. “It just shows the resilience of our guys and being down one game to nothing after a heartbreaking loss on Thursday the guys could have easily packed it in. It’s a new series and now it’s a best-of-3 and I would take our boys against any hockey team right now in the NCDC.”
The Mountain America Center was rocking as the clock approached midnight following the game-winning goal by William Donovan with 2:03 left in the second overtime.
The mood was a bit less festive two hours earlier when the Bulls held a 2-0 lead barely midway through the first quarter.
Thursday’s series opener also went to overtime, but an apparent game-winning goal by the Spud Kings was waived off and Pueblo got its own game winner.
The Spud Kings finally broke through in Friday’s game when Andrew Schmidt found the net on a power play at 17:01 of the first.
Idaho Falls had plenty of chances in the second, but Pueblo goalkeeper Noel Friedman was flawless, as was Spud Kings keeper Charlie Durkin.
With about a minute left in the second period, there was pileup of players in front of the Bulls’ goal and it looked like the puck may have slipped through. But Friedman was able to control it and Pueblo maintained its one-goal lead.
That was until Schmidt came through again in the third period, finally knotting the game at 14:25.
The Spud Kings had hoped to ride their No. 1 seed and home ice advantage into the next round, but Pueblo, which had played well against the Spud Kings in their 10 regular-season games, had other ideas.
The Spud King, which were second in scoring in the Mountain Division, peppered Friedman in the first 20-minute overtime and then again in the second overtime.
Donovan finally found the break Idaho Falls needed when he scored just in front of the net off of an assist from Easton Edwards and Schmidt.
In the matchup of goalies, Friedman stopped 58 of 61 shots and Durkin saved 38 of 40.
After back-to-back overtime games, the teams won’t have much time to rest. Game 3 is Sunday at Pueblo.
EastIdahoNews.com comment boards are a place for open, honest, and civil communication between readers regarding the news of the day and issues facing our communities. We encourage commenters to stay on topic, use positive and constructive language, and be empathetic to the feelings of other commenters. THINK BEFORE YOU POST. Click here for more details on our commenting rules.