G-Men Fall in OT to Rockets

The Kelowna Rockets tied the game in the final minute of the third period, just seconds after the Vancouver Giants had taken the lead, and won 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday night at Prospera Place. Damon Severson had the winner for the Rockets while Vancouver got two goals from Cain Franson and one marker from Alec Baer. With the OT loss, the G-Men extended their point streak to 10 games.

Neither team was able to score in the first, but both sides had golden opportunities to take the lead. Kelowna's best chance came early in the game when Tyson Baillie was sprung in on a breakaway, but Jared Rathjen made a confident save to keep the game scoreless. Ty Ronning nearly put the Giants ahead in the late stages of the period when he hammered a puck off the cross-bar from the slot, but it stayed out.

Baillie put the Rockets ahead in the second when he beat Rathjen with a hard one-timer from the slot after a nice pass from below the goal line from Cole Linaker. However, the Giants tied the game less than two minutes later when Franson netted his first of the evening, scoring on a long shot off the right wing that found its way through Kelowna goalie Jordon Cooke. Franson would give Vancouver the lead later in the stanza when he wired a hard wrister into the top left corner from the bottom of the left circle, popping the water bottle off Cooke's net in the process.

Kelowna tied the game just before the 12 minute mark of the third period when Colton Heffley found a puck in traffic in front of the net and scored with a backhander that got past Rathjen on the blocker side. Following the equalizer, the Rockets pushed hard for a go-ahead goal, generating a number of good chances, but Rathjen was equal to the task. Vancouver took a late lead with 37 seconds remaining when Baer calmly walked into the slot after faking out a Kelowna defender and fired the puck past Cooke. The Rockets had another comeback in them though as they pulled the goalie, and after a scramble in front of the goal, Ryan Olsen shovelled a rebound past Rathjen with 17 seconds left on the clock to send the game to overtime.

Severson scored the winning goal 2:36 into overtime when he forced a turnover in the Vancouver zone and walked into the slot before beating Rathjen with a deke to the back hand to end the game.

The Vancouver club now has a quick turnaround as the Giants will be back at the Coliseum on Wednesday night to host Sam Reinhart and the Kootenay Ice. The face-off is set for 7:00pm. Call 604-4-GIANTS or visit vancouvergiants.com for ticket information.

Game Summary

3 Stars:
1. Jordon Cooke - Kelowna
2. Cain Franson - Vancouver
3. Tyson Baillie - Kelowna