The wild ride for the Calgary Canucks continues, after they came from two goals down to defeat the Rockland Nationals 3-2 in overtime Saturday in the Centennial Cup semi-final. Hayden Fechner took it end-to-end in the extra frame, swooped around a tired defender and deposited it on the short side past Nationals goalie Benoit Forget 10:57 into overtime to give the hosts the victory. The win puts the Canucks in the championship game against the Melfort Mustangs Sunday night at 5 p.m. Melfort advanced to the final with a 4-3 win over the Trenton Golden Hawks Saturday afternoon. For a long time Saturday night, it appeared that Rockland would be the team advancing. They opened the scoring, getting a first-period goal from Gabriel Le Houllier nine minutes in. Le Houllier doubled down, scoring his second of the game at the 12:43 mark of the second to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead. However, just as it appeared the Canucks were headed to intermission down a pair, Gavin Schmidt scored a shorthanded goal with 55 seconds left to cut the lead to 2-1. Then, with three minutes left in the third, Schmidt fired home the equalizer for his second goal of the night, setting the stage for Fechner’s overtime winner. Rockland outshot Calgary 44-31. The Canucks previously won the Centennial Cup in 1995. For tickets to Sunday’s championship game, go here.
