Hockey / Panacek's late goal carries Cobras to series win

Panacek's late goal carries Cobras to series win

Date:  Source: Butte Cobras

The reactions were vastly different, and rightfully so.

Butte Cobras forward Petr Panacek flung himself off of the ice and up against the glass, joining in the celebration that had engulfed the Butte Community Ice Center.

The Bellingham Blazers left the ice with some players fighting back tears while another broke his stick while smashing it against the wall on his way to the locker room.

 

The Blazers had spent almost an hour fighting for survival and matched the Cobras, a team they had yet to beat this season, goal for goal.

The teams were seconds from going into overtime when Panacek stepped in.

Panacek scored with five seconds left in regulation, providing the Cobras with the margin of victory in Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Blazers.

The game-winning goal also ended the Blazers’ season. The win closed out the best-of-three series after two games, and sent the Cobras into next weekend’s Northwest Division semifinal series at Southern Oregon.

Vaclav Beran took a shot from just inside of the blue line and Panacek, positioned in front of the net, got his stick on the puck. The puck changed direction and was just able to escape the reach of Bellingham goalie Alexander Olson.

“I saw how Beran was shooting so I tried to tip it in,” Panacek said. “I don’t know how it happened but it was in the net. It was an astonishing feeling. I’m very happy for the team and the boys.”

It was only the third goal that Olson allowed in the game – out of 38 shots – but it was also the costliest.

Olson sat alone on the ice for several seconds while the celebration intensified. Sadly for the Canadian goalie, he was the reason that the game was as close as it was.

The Cobras took 15 shots in the first period against the Blazers but Olson stopped 14 to keep Bellingham within reach.

 
 
 
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Jan Marcillis gave the Cobras a 1-0 lead at 8:40 of the opening period, and Butte extended it to 2-0 when Tyson Liverance scored a power-play goal at 4:50 of the second.

Bellingham, which played much better in the second period, scored its first goal less than a minute later when Sean Meetsma recorded his first tally of the series.

The Blazers had a golden opportunity to at least tie the score when Ryan Meyer was penalized for high sticking. The penalty left Bellingham’s Jack Flynn motionless on the ice and resulted in Meyer’s ejection.

“In the first period we kept going, we kept coming, we kept coming but in the second we got lazy and played into their hands,” Butte coach Ty Smith said. “That’s what they wanted. They wanted us to get lazy and just go through the motions, and we did.”

The five-minute penalty carried into the third period, where Butte defenseman Ethan Cooney was whistled for kneeing. That gave the Blazers a two-man advantage for 31 seconds. Both penalties passed with Butte clinging to its one-goal lead but that changed six seconds later when Thomas Steven tied the score with his second goal in as many games.

The teams battled back and forth the rest of the way.

Bellngham lost forward Darius Shashaweskum, midway through the period, when he was hit in the mouth on a shot taken by Butte’s Jacob Rudloff. Shashaweskum left some blood and teeth on the ice, and did not return.

The final minutes of the third period saw the Cobras on the attack, peppering Olson with shot after shot. He stood up to the pressure, making save after save, but eventually came up one save short.

Butte goalie Eric Ahlberg was equally as efficient as his counterpart, despite playing through the disadvantage of facing very few shots in the first period. He finished the game with 15 saves on 17 shots.

“For me it was hard when you don’t face a lot of shots,” Ahlberg said. “You have to keep warm and stay focused. We were lucky there at the end, I think, but the boys were great and did a good job.

“It was a super-hard game. Bellingham played really good. They did an astonishing job. They were getting pucks deep and it was really hard for us to get opportunities.”