The Nanaimo Clippers were in town on Saturday to go to war with the North Island Atom Eagles at the Chilton Regional Arena in Port McNeill, and was it ever a back and forth battle featuring a ton of highlight reel goals.
The Clippers would ultimately strike first near the end of the first period. Jackson Peters skated in and took a shot on net, and then Bogdan Mazur knocked the rebound past Eagles’ goaltender Matt Mercer to make it 1-0.
The Eagles would come out determined in the second period. Kyle Rushton got the feed from Dakota Knighton and then skated in on the Clippers’ goaltender Jett Giles, firing off a beautiful backhand shot top shelf to tie it up.
Peters would answer back for the Clippers with a goal of his own around two minutes later, giving his team the lead once again. Knighton would then find the back of the net at 4:55 to tie it up going into the third period, but Peters would ultimately score again at 14:23 and then Olen Johanson-Paugh added another goal at 10:51 to make it 4-2.
The Eagles, however, weren’t ready to lay down and quit just yet. Carter Henschke scored at 9:57 to bring the Eagles within one goal of tying the game, but the Clippers’ Henry Roddick scored at 9:10 to make it 5-3.
Rushton scored again at 4:58, but it was too little too late. The Clippers’ Cole Van Deventer would add one more goal at 3:06 to give his team a hard-fought 6-4 win. The Eagles played an exhibition rematch against the Clippers on Sunday at the Chilton Regional Arena, falling 6-5.
