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Two overtime victories for the Ponoka Stampeders

Local junior squad resilient in pair of extra time contests this past week
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Stampeders Devin Anderson works on the puck in the corner of the Three Hills end on the way to an overtime win Nov. 28 on home ice. Photo by Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye

The past week was an interesting one for the Ponoka Stampeders, featuring a pair of overtime victories.

Things got off on the right hoof for the local Jr. B squad Nov. 28, pulling out a 4-3 win over Three Hills at the Ponoka Culture and Recreation Complex.

Kobe Smallman put the Stamps on the board near the midway mark of the opening frame, followed by Jordan Jacob’s marker just over three minutes into the middle stanza to give the home side a 2-0 lead.

Three Hills, with just one victory in 21 games so far this season, clawed back within one late in the second. Ponoka’s Smallman would notch his second with about nine minutes gone in the third to restore the two goal lead.

However, the visitors would remain resilient and forced the extra session courtesy a pair of goals just over three minutes apart, with the first coming just two minutes after Ponoka added to their lead.

But, much to the delight of the home crowd, Devin Anderson would lift the Stamps over their rivals from the east with a goal about 1:30 into the overtime.

Three Hills showed they weren’t the slouches their record shows, firing 33 shots on Ponoka’s Keenan Starkell while the Stamps peppered 44 the other direction. Both squads wound up going scoreless on three powerplays each.

More extra time

Ryan Harder was the cowboy the Stampeders needed on Dec. 1 as the club started a two-game road swing with a 5-4 overtime win in Strathmore.

Harder’s hat trick was the difference — scoring in the first and second then getting the game winner at 1:33 of the extra frame — while Braden Klessens and Wade Lightburn each added a goal in the second for the Stamps.

The contest was a battle for the first two periods, as each team scored once in the opening frame then got three aside in the second, to go alongside the exactly even shots on goal over the 40 minutes.

However, it was Brandon Clark that gave the Stamps a shot — stopping all 13 shots in the third and five more in overtime, while Ponoka could manage only a combined seven shots over that same stint.

The game was also one for the ages in junior hockey, with just one penalty — a roughing minor Strathmore in the second period — being assessed in the contest.

While putting up a fight the next day in Blackfalds, the Wranglers were more than Ponoka could handle and the Stamps fell 6-1.

Blackfalds scored three times in the first and twice in the second, before Ponoka’s Isaiah Deschamps-Cross scored the club’s lone goal just over a minute into the third. Another interesting note was there were just two powerplays dished out, both going the way of the home team.

Starkell would turn aside 33 shots in the game, while the Stamps sent 28 the other way.

Bucking the trend — After a busy past week, the Stamps get a breather with just one game in the next 10 days. The club will play its only home game of December as they host the Mountainview Colts Dec. 8 (puck drop 8:30 p.m.). The rest of the month has them in Airdrie (Dec. 14), Red Deer (Dec. 17), Stettler (Dec. 22) and closing out the year in Blackfalds (Dec. 23).