Oceanside 3 Nanaimo 5
A pair of goals by first star Koen Gauthier enabled the Nanaimo Buccaneers to march past the Oceanside Generals in a Thanksgiving VIJHL matinee in front of 370 fans at Nanaimo Ice Centre.
Nanaimo busted out to a 2-0 first period lead when Madden Cruickshank scored on after corralling his own rebound and third star Bostyn MacDonald floated a quick wrister top shelf above Oceanside goalie Ethan Suhr’s glove hand where Mother hides the cookies. The second period was scoreless, and Bucs captain Kai Verbrugge scored into an empty net with nine seconds left to round out scoring from the hosts, who received 29 saves from goalie Adam Ranger.
Rykan Lay on a penalty shot, Jacob Leamy and Hunter Toth had the goals for the Generals, and Suhr finished with 26 saves.
The win pulled Nanaimo even with Oceanside for third spot in the North Division at 12 points each, although the Bucs have two games in hand.
