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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
If Central Cambria manages to work its way into the Laurel Mountain Hockey League playoffs at the end of this season, a win like the Red Devils pulled off at Galactic Ice Tuesday night will be a big part of their journey.
Overcoming 3-1 and 4-3 deficits, Central Cambria gutted out a 5-4 overtime victory over Altoona on a goal by sophomore center Brayden Rado with just 35 seconds left in the five-minute overtime period.
"This was a heck of a game all around,'' said Central Cambria coach Bryce Boring, whose team improved to 5-4 on the season. "We faced a lot of adversity, we rebounded twice to tie the score, and then we pulled it out.
"I'm proud of our guys,'' Boring said. "They just kept on going, and pulled it out.''
Rado took a pass from junior Owen Martin and tucked a wrap-around shot past Altoona goaltender Chase Criste for the game-winner in overtime.
"My teammate gave me a nice feed and I wrapped it around and put it in,'' Rado said. "It feels awesome to win, especially after that long game.''
Boring said that Rado is a hard worker every time that he takes the ice.
"He gives it his all every shift,'' Boring said. "He had a good night overall tonight, and he capped it off with the overtime winner. He's a good kid who works very hard.''
Altoona took a 4-3 lead with 6:36 left in the third period on sophomore Owen Piper's goal, but Central Cambria tied the game, 4-4, and forced overtime on Wyatt Trexler's goal from the upper slot less than two minutes later.
Altoona led 2-1 after one period on goals by Cayden Helsel and Jakodi Jones, and built its advantage to 3-1 in the second period on Dominic Della's goal.
But Central Cambria rallied to tie the score 3-3 later in the second period on a pair of unassisted goals, the first by Benjamin Lundberg at 12:41, and the second by Karter Cuppett at 14:40.
"This was a tough way to lose tonight,'' said Altoona coach Don Burgmeier, whose team dropped to 3-5. "I thought that we played really well through the first period and six minutes into the second period, but when after we got up 3-1, our discipline went away and we took too many penalties.''
"(Central Cambria) did a good job of forcing us to play end-to-end, and when they did, they began scoring goals,'' Burgmeier added. "This was anybody's game, but I tip my hat to them - they did a good job tonight.''
Austin Semelsberger scored a first-period goal for Central Cambria, and both goaltenders played well. Criste stopped 31 of 36 Central Cambria shots, while Red Devils goaltender Charles Edwards stopped 27 of 31 Altoona shots.
"I'm proud of our guys for competing the whole time tonight, and not giving up,'' Boring said.
SCORE BY PERIODS
Central Cambria……………………… 1 2 1 1 — 5
Altoona …………………………… .2 1 1 0--4
First period: 1, A--Helsel (unassisted), 10:16. 2, CC--Semelsberger (Lundberg), 10:35. 3, A--Jones (Hosgood), 14:13.
Penalties: CC (holding), 2:05; A--(checking from behind major, roughing minor), CC--(roughing), 15:22. CC--(crosschecking), 16:19. CC-(unsportsmanlike conduct), 16:59.
Second period: 4, A--Della (Piper, K. Conrad), ppg, :47. 5, CC--Lundberg (unassisted), 12:41. 6, CC--Cuppett (unassisted), 14:40.
Penalties: CC (holding), A (roughing), 5:55; A--(tripping), 16:51.
Third period: 7, A--Piper (Jones), 10:24. 8, CC--Trexler (Lundberg), 12:15.
Penalties: CC (roughing), 3:07; A (fighting), CC (fighting), A (roughing), CC (roughing), 5:38; A (roughing), 10:58; CC (crosschecking), 11:02.
Overtime: 9, CC--Rado (Martin, Heeney), 4:25.
Shots on goal: Central Cambria, 36, Altoona 31.
Saves: Edwards, CC, 27; Criste, A, 31.
Records: Central Cambria (5-4), Altoona (3-5).