By John DeCoste
The midget Valley Wildcats will face elimination in game six of their Nova Scotia Major Midget semifinal series with the Cape Breton West Islanders March 7 in Port Hood.
The Wildcats, who once enjoyed a 2-0 lead in the series, dropped their third straight game to the Islanders 5-4 March 5 in Berwick.
Leading 4-0 after two periods, Valley was 20 minutes of game time away from a 3-2 series lead, but things went wrong in the third period.
Garrett Lambke got Cape Breton West on the board with a power play goal 3:56 into the period. The Islanders were far from finished.
Troy Hiller’s goal at 12:24 made it 4-2 and Lambke’s second of the period at 13:46 brought Cape Breton West to within one.
Bradley Kennedy completed the comeback with 26 seconds left on the clock, forcing overtime and setting the stage for Alex Bonaparte’s goal 1:40 into the overtime period.
Grant Janes and Tanner Forrest had first period goals for the Wildcats,:Janes scoring on the power play at 7:12 and Forrest deflecting a Tyler McDowell shot from the point past Blade Mann-Dixon at 14:49.
In the second period Jacob McNutt scored shorthanded and John Deacon’s power play goal increased the advantage to 4-0.
Mann-Dixon continued his solid play in goal, turning aside 36 of 40 Valley shots. Justin Ritcey stopped 31 of 36 for the Wildcats.
If Valley manages to win Thursday and force game seven, it will be at 8 p.m. March 9 in Berwick.
