The song remained sadly the same, as the Nanaimo Clippers suffered another 2-1 overtime loss in the B.C. Hockey League championship.
The Clippers hosted the Brooks Bandits in Game 4 of the Rogers BCHL Cup final on Wednesday, May 20 at Frank Crane Arena and after a 2-1 double OT loss in Game 2 in Brooks, Alta., and a 2-1 OT loss on home ice in Game 3, the team once again lost in an extra frame.
Mathis Dufour opened the scoring for Brooks in the first and Charles Béland tied it up for the Clippers in the second with a power play marker. The Clippers thought they had pulled ahead in the third, but the goal was disallowed and Harry Ahlberg scored for Brooks in the dying seconds of the first OT to give the Bandits a 3-1 series lead.
Zach Zahara, in net for Brooks, stopped 43 of 44 shots, while Eliot Séguin-Lescarbeau made 37 saves on 39 shots for the Clippers.
The loss was an extra bitter pill to swallow as the Clippers carried the play in OT, out-shooting the Bandits 15-6, including a power play with a number of scoring chances. Ahlberg was given two minutes for boarding, after hitting Clippers’ defenceman Blake Jones, who was helped off the ice. Henry Acres, Clippers’ assistant coach, said Jones is OK and will be in the lineup for Game 5.
When asked about Ahlberg only receiving two minutes for boarding, Acres said it was at “the discretion of the referee,” and wanted to leave it at that. He thought the team deserved better in OT.
“We had a lot of great looks, also on the power play as well,” he said. “We pinned them in, played our game, got our looks as it was really trending in our direction, but at the end of the day, you got to put the puck in the net.”
As for how the team will regroup, Acres said the series has been tight and it wouldn’t be surprising if another OT happens.
“It’s just finding a way to get that puck in the net to get the result that we want … it’s micro, going down to winning the puck battle, making the right decisions with the puck, and just rolling from there, and trying to build momentum,” said Acres.
Game 5 goes Friday, May 22 at Centennial Regional Arena in Brooks, and should the Clippers win, Game 6 would go Sunday, May 24 at Frank Crane Arena.