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Regulators top tourney after comeback

Regulators fight back to beat Roaches in overtime during final of tourney.
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Terry Alway prepares a shot in the mens final of the GNN Ladies Memorial Tourney this weekend at Wakas Hall.

Twelve teams took the floor in Wakas Hall this weekend for the inaugural GNN Ladies Memorial floor hockey tournament.

Eight mens and four womens teams competed in a divisional round-robin format on Saturday to determine standings for Sunday's semi-finas and finals.

The ladies' division finals saw the GN Memorial team run out convincing winners after beating the Unknowns 16-2 in the final game.

The men's final was a much tighter game.

The Fort Rupert Roaches went into the final after topping their division and beating the GN Memorial men in the semis.

They faced the Regulators, who dispatched Revolution in the semis after topping the other mens division.

The Roaches settled first in a competitive, physical game and raced ahead to a 4-0 lead in the first eight minutes.

The Regulators got on the board with ten minutes left in the period and added a second a minute later. The teams traded a further goal each to finish the period with the roaches ahead 5-3.

The Regulators struck first in the second only to see the Roaches add three more to extend their lead to 8-4 with six minutes left in an increasingly physical game.

A dispute over a pushing call led to a change in refereeing personnel as the Regulators tried to fight back against a confident Roaches side.

Their tenacity paid off when they clawed back a goal to trail 8-5 with five minutes to play before Albert Charlie hit a remarkable hat trick inside a minute — including two near-identical shots from the halfway line which flew bullet-like into the top corner — to level the game with just under three minutes to play.

The celebrations were short-lived however as Terry Alway struck back for the Roaches almost immediately following a time out.

The crowd barely had time to sit down before Wallace King leveled the scores again.

A minute later Jordan Thompson put the Roaches ahead again, with a minute left to play. The Regulators still refused to lie down however and tied the game again with 0:45 left and force a sudden-death overtime.

The Regulators needed just a minute to find the net again as the indomitable Charlie struck once again to sink the Roaches.

 

Both teams played solidly throughout the final, and an appreciative crowd sounded their approval of the players' efforts.