The Soo North Stars saw their dreams of a hometown tournament victory slip through their hands in the dying seconds.
In a highly emotional and entertaining hockey game, the Marquette Electricians scored with 21 seconds left on the clock to break a tie and defeat the North Stars 3-2 in the AAA midget major final at the Steel City International Hockey Tournament at the John Rhodes Community Centre on Sunday afternoon.
Ryan Daust scored the game winner for Marquette when a high rising shot from long range tipped off the glove of North Stars goalie Michael Maulucci and into the net behind him to seal the win.
"We're proud of these kids," said North Stars head coach Mike Hall. "We played a good game and hockey is a game of bounces and breaks and we had some chances but we missed a breakaway and hit a couple of posts. We had a great tournament and gave it everything we had and just came up a shot short.
"We got caught on a bad pinch late in the game and we had been getting away with it earlier but we got caught this time. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and move on but we don't have any reason to hang our heads. I'm not upset at all."
Using the large and loud crowd to their advantage to begin the game, the North Stars jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period.
Lucas Goodall opened the scoring just 45 seconds in when the defenseman snuck into the rush and tipped a Tyler Gendron pass into net past Electricians goaltender Brett Beaudry. A short time later, Zack Torquato tipped in a point shot to complete the scoring for home side.
Marquette jumped on the board early in the second period when Jim Conlin scored a fluky goal on a shot from the side of the net that bounced off the inside of Maulucci's skate and into the net. The Electricians tied the score 5:47 into the third period when Evan Lucas fired a screened shot past Maulucci.
Both teams dazzled the crowd in the third period as the teams went end to end with several odd-man rushes on both sides.
"Hockey is a game of breaks and we couldn't catch one today," said Hall. "Hopefully that means the next time we play in a big game we will get some of those breaks and come up on the other end of things."
The tournament victory was the third of the season for a powerful Marquette team that leads the Midwest Elite Hockey League standings. Included in the wins was a championship at the early season Kewadin tournament in the Michigan Sault.
"Our game plan was to come in here and take the body without taking any penalties in order to create space for us. That is not an easy thing to do but we were able to do it," said Marquette coach Jon Nebel.
"Even when we were down 2-0 I told our players that there was a lot of hockey left. We needed to get one before they went ahead 3-0 and we were able to stay patient and eventually came back.
"This was a gut check for our team to come into a hostile environment with a packed house and pull it out. This will prepare us for down the road and to be able to come back and win late will only help us."
The North Stars advanced to the championship game with an exciting 1-0 victory over the Chicago Flames in the semi-finals on Sunday morning. Michael D'Agostini scored the game's only goal midway through the second period while Maulucci recorded the shutout.
"The crowd was just awesome today," said Hall. "The Sault is a hockey town and they really support their teams. When you look and see people standing eight to ten deep on the end boards, you know they are there to watch hockey. We really appreciate having all those people here to watch us today."
"People in this town appreciate teams that give an effort and work hard," added North Stars assistant coach Carlo DiCandia. "Hopefully we give them that. Win or lose, people just want to see a good game."
The North Stars return to action in the Great North Midget League next weekend with a pair of games against the Rayside Balfour Jr. Sabrecats at the Rhodes. Game times are 7 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.