Nitros Sommer scores in OT to power Kimberley to KIJHL Championship
By Lone Sheep Publishing
The Kimberley Dynamiters won the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League Teck Cup championship with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over the Posse in Game seven of the series Monday night in Princeton.
Justin Sommer scored his third goal of the playoffs with 5:24 remaining in the period as he beat Peyton Trzaska in the Posse nets.
Cam Reid and Tristan Weill assisted on the game winner.
The Dynamiters, advancing to the final as the Kootenay Conference Champ with wins over Beaver Valley Nitehawks, Fernie Ghostriders and Golden Rockets, opened the scoring with 14 seconds left in the first period on a goal by Jayden Kostiuk, his seventh.
Jonathan Ward got the Posse back even 40 seconds into the second period, before Campbell McLean put the Dynamiters back ahead late in the frame.
Brayden Bablitz forced overtime when he beat Matt Fleet, who finished with 34 saves, by burying a rebound with 1:18 remaining in the third period.
Fleet faced 13 third-period shots. Reid was named the KIJHL Playoff MVP and finished with five goals and 21 points in 23 playoff games.
Trzaska finished the game with 41 saves for the Posse.
Kimberley, which won the KIJHL title in 2018 and 2015, now advances to the Cyclone Taylor Cup beginning Thursday in Revelstoke against the Delta Ice Hawks, winners of the Pacific Junior Hockey League.
Host Revelstoke Grizzlies meet Oceanside Generals of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League.
The teams continue the round robin Friday and Saturday with the top two teams meeting for the Cyclone Taylor Cup Sunday in Revelstoke.
The third and fourth place finishers meet in the Bronze Medal game Sunday morning.
—With files from the KIJHL
