By Stephen Dafoe
Morinville – With 24 seconds left in Friday night’s home-ice showdown with the Millet Lightning, Matt Proulx of the Morinville Titans let loose a shot that found the back of the Lightning’s net, breaking a 5-5 tie and giving the Titans another two points at a crucial time.
The Titans (17-6-4) seemed to struggle through three periods to find their way to victory, coming from behind to tie the first period 2-2, ending the middle frame with a one-goal lead at 4-3, and finally coming back from a 5-3 deficit in the third to win the game 6-5.
“The last four games have been just like this one where we just seem to be struggling to score goals, but we’re still finding a way to get it done most of the time,” said Titans Head Coach Jeff Montina, adding Proulx’s last minute goal was an important goal for the club. “That’s huge because right now one point could be the difference between third and sixth.”
Friday night’s victory positions the Titans in fourth slot in the Noralta Junior Hockey League standings, one point and one game behind the SWZ Oil Kings and two points and one game ahead of the Seera Stealth.
Noralta playoffs will see the top 12 of 15 teams competing, the top four betting a bye in the first round.
The Titans final game of the regular season is set for Friday night against the 0-23-0 Sherwood Park Renegades, a team who forfeited their last opportunity to take on Morinville.
But win lose or draw next Friday night, Montina said he and the coaching staff are pleased with how the season has gone.
“We’re pretty satisfied with the way things are going,” the coach said. “There were a few games we thought we should have won that we didn’t, but that’s going to happen over a season. I think overall we’re pretty happy.”
Friday night’s game is set for 7 p.m. at the Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
