Kirk Mullen scored the game-winning goal on the power play 46 seconds into overtime as the Warriors took a 3-2 victory in overtime on Friday night at Mosaic Place.
Mullen’s winner came off a deflection on a Wyatt Wilson point shot, and only seconds after Warriors goaltender Kael DePape turned aside a Notre Dame breakaway. In other words, it was just that close.
“They work hard, they compete and they battle and they were a good test,” Warriors head coach Trevor Weisgerber said of Notre Dame’s showing. “That’s what we said to the guys, we were happy with the way things ended up but just with the chances we had, we felt we pushed the pace a lot of the game. It was good.”
The Warriors looked to have things won late in regulation, but an untimely penalty led to Josh Schenk tying the game for the Hounds with only 1:51 remaining.
“Obviously giving up the goal late, taking the penalty, we just kind of broke down on our PK actually and that kind of caused the goal, which was too bad,” Weisgerber said. “But we’ll go over the video and we’ll learn from that.”
Wilson also scored the Warriors’ first two goals as the two teams were scoreless after the first and tied 1-1 through two. The 17-year-old Victoria Royals prospect has been a stabilizing force on the blueline though the early part of the season, and seeing that kind of a performance is no surprise to Weisgerber.
“He played really well tonight, and he’s played well since the beginning of the season,” he said. “He’s a guy we need on the back end to kind of lead by example and tonight he played very well. It’s not always about points with those guys, it’s nice when they do hit the scoresheet, but for them it’s more doing the little things and doing the things properly and he was rewarded with some points because of it.”
DePape turned aside 23 shots to earn the win, the Warriors had 47 on Hounds goaltender Austin Elliot.
The Warriors improved to 2-0 with the win and hold down first place in the SMAAAHL South standings. The Hounds fell to 1-0-0-1.
The Warriors and Hounds will potentially rematch on Sunday in Wilcox, but that contest is likely in jeopardy as the upcoming winter storm is expected to make highway travel all but impossible. Be sure to keep an eye on www.smaaahl.com for the latest updates.
