UPDATED: Wednesday, March 12 - 10:54 a.m.
The Coquitlam Express will take on the Langley Rivermen in round two of the BCHL playoffs after knocking off Prince George 2-1 at the Poirier Sports and Leisure Complex Tuesday night.
The Spruce Kings opened the scoring but Coquitlam quickly responded with a goal from Ryan Rosenthal midway through the third period. Bo Pieper scored in the second and Express goalie Gordie Defiel - the first star of the game - stopped all but one of the 37 shots he faced.
The Coquitlam Express needed one more goal to finish off the Prince George Spruce Kings Monday night.
Unfortunately, their hopes of wrapping up the first round of the B.C. Hockey League playoffs were dashed by the hot hands of Jeremiah Luedtke.
The Spruce King scorer beat Express goalie Gordie Defiel 22 seconds into the second overtime period in front of 951 fans at the Prince George Coliseum, extending the series to Game 6 (the game took place Tuesday night, after The Tri-City News' deadline).
But Defiel can hardly be blamed for Monday's loss. The 21-year-old net minder stood on his head for most of the match, turning away 53 of the 56 shots he faced, earning third star honours for his efforts.
The game started off well for the Exrpess, who jumped out to an early lead, thanks to a goal from Corey Mackin with five minutes left in the first period.
Prince George was able to even up the score in the middle frame, when Mitch Eden snuck the puck past Defiel when the Spruce Kings were on the power play.
Coquitlam scorer Bo Pieper made it 2-1 but Luedtke was not about to let Prince George's post-season hopes get dashed on home ice.
He evened the score for the Spruce Kings before potting the game-winner in overtime to take the game 3-2.
