The Twin City Thunder and the Utica Jr. Comets are playing for their USPHL NCDC playoff lives. On Saturday, the Comets staved off elimination with a 3-2 overtime victory at the Presidents’ Showcase in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
Thunder coach Dan Hodge said all the Thunder can do at this point of the season is acquire points. They took five of the six available points at the showcase this week.
“You get to that point and it’s a 2-2 hockey game — one team gets two points and the other gets one point,” Thunder coach Dan Hodge said. “The silver lining is we got one point.”
Had Utica (17-22-4, 38 points) lost in regulation, a win by either the Connecticut Jr. Rangers or the Rockets Hockey Club would have eliminated the Comets from the postseason in the South Division.
Twin City (20-19-4, 44 points) remains in fifth place in the North Division and six points behind the Boston Advantage (23-17-4, 50 points) for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division.
Michael Herrera, the NCDC’s leading scorer, scored twice for Utica in the win, including the game-winning goal midway through the extra session. He now has 28 goals for the season.
“He’s a strong player, and he knows how to score goals,” Hodge said. “I was talking to their coach after the game and he’s a kid you can tell has a nose for the net.”
Richard Davis scored for the second game in a row, giving the Thunder a 1-0 lead roughly two minutes into the game. Trace Norwell and Nolan Leonard had the assists.
The game remained that way until the third period, when Herrera scored on the power play six and a half minutes into the frame.
Utica went 1 for 2 on the man-advantage and the Thunder were scoreless on their four chances.
“We had two 5-on-3s in the first period and we couldn’t get anything out of it,” Hodge said. “Our power play didn’t click on those two opportunities. I give their goaltender a lot of credit — he made a lot of big saves. We had some good looks, but he made some big saves.”
Waylon Esche stopped 38 shots for Utica.
Vladislav Pschenichnikov gave Utica a 2-1 advantage, beating Thunder goalie Christopher Jackson (31 saves) 15:23 into the third period.
Alexander Snellman, who the Thunder acquired last week in a trade with the Jersey Hitmen, tied the game two minutes later. Fellow forward Edvin Robertsson and defenseman Blake Tierney had the assists.
Twin City returns to the Foxboro Sports Center on Thursday (2 p.m.) and Friday (12:30 p.m.) to take on the South Shore Kings.
“We have two big games next week, and we did well this weekend,” Hodge said. “We have to pick ourselves up and get ready to go on Thursday.”
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