Jacks beat Paris in overtime

Another one-goal win over Mounties, but this time without all of the rough stuff on route to 4-3 final score

The Wellesley Applejacks scored first and last in facing the Paris Mounties in their sole game of the week. That was especially important in a game that needed overtime to decide a winner.

Having edged the Mounties 5-4 in Wellesley the week before, the Jacks were in tight again January 4 in Paris, but emerged on the happy end of a 4-3 final score.

The win left the Jacks with a record of 20-5-14 and 45 points, three points back of Tavistock in the race for top spot in the Provincial Junior Hockey League’s South Doherty Division. Wellesley is, in turn, three points ahead of third-place Woodstock.

Wellesley got on the board first when Carson Wickie scored at 12:07 of the opening frame, assisted by Brendan Baker and Justin McCombs. But the home side tied it up less than four minutes later, with the 1-1 score holding up into intermission.

Wellesley regained the lead at 8:45 of the second when James Ranson scored on a power play, assisted by Shaun Pickering and Zach Ribeiro. Two minutes later, however, the Mounties scored on a power play of their own to make it 2-2. And, once again, the teams went back to their respective rooms with the score deadlocked.

In the third, Paris took the lead for the first time on a goal at 9:33. That was a short-lived situation, though, as the Jacks stormed back to make it 3-3 just 72 seconds later courtesy of a goal from Gianfranco Commisso, assisted by Ribeiro. That was it for the scoring before the buzzer sounded, so it was off to overtime.

Having outshot Paris by a 42-29 margin at that point, the Jacks had to put just one more on net in the extra frame, a shot that came 11 seconds in off the stick of captain Pickering. McCombs got the assist on that one to give Wellesley the 4-3 victory.

It was another one-goal win over Paris, but the game was not a repeat of the previous Saturday’s outing at the Wellesley arena, which turned into a penalty-filled tilt. Instead of 87 minutes in penalties for 30 offenses, the most recent match features 24 minutes for 12 infractions.

The Jacks are busier this weekend, though there’s no travel involved. They play host Saturday night (8 p.m.) to the Norwich Merchants (17-12-2-0), then welcome the lastplace Delhi Travellers (029) for a Sunday matinee (2 p.m.).