The Campbell River Storm were eliminated from Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League playoff contention last night, falling to the Victoria Cougars 5-4 in overtime in Victoria's Archie Browning Arena.
A third period unassisted goal by Curtis Toneff – his second of the game – tied the game 4-4 at 17:26 in the third period but it only took the Cougars 1:26 into overtime to eliminate their northern rivals. John Kretzschmar of the Cougars netted the winner.
Toneff was named the game's third star. The Cougars' Wade Johnson was second star and overtime hero Kretzschmar was named the game's first star.
Things started out rough for the Storm with Johnson scoring just 32 seconds into the game. David Marshall put the Cougars ahead 2-0 at 5:23 in the first.
The Storm came back to tie it in the first on goals from Toneff at 10:47 on the power play and Gage Colpron at 16:21.
Victoria got off to another quick start in the second period, scoring 19 seconds in on another goal by Johnson. Zack Anderson tied it up again for the Storm at 10:14 but David Marshall gave the Cougars the lead going into the third period.
The Storm managed only one victory in the series, a 1-0 win in game 2.
The Cougars now await the winners of the Peninsula Panthers/Comox Valley Glacier Kings series, which continues tonight with the Valley leading the series three games to two.