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Clearwater second in Williams Lake event

The Williams Lake Red Demons fought off a two-goal deficit for a come-from-behind overtime win over Clearwater to take first place Jan. 16 at the Williams Lake Bantam House Tournament.

The Williams Lake Red Demons fought off a two-goal deficit for a come-from-behind overtime win over Clearwater to take first place Jan. 16 at the Williams Lake Bantam House Tournament.

The game winner came in surprising fashion when Jesse Wallace-Webb buried a shot into an empty net during the overtime frame to give Williams Lake the 3-2 win.

Clearwater, with 45 seconds left in overtime, pulled its goalie with nothing to lose. A tie would have given Williams Lake the win due to having fewer penalty minutes in the tournament, leaving the Clearwater club in a bit of a bind.

With the puck deep in Williams Lake’s end, Clearwater took its gamble, pulling its goalie off the ice for an extra attacker.

Moments later, Wallace-Webb scooped up a loose puck and carried it down the ice for the winner with 28 seconds remaining.

Williams Lake trailed for the majority of the contest, falling behind 2-0 just one minute into the third period.

Clearwater took a 1-0 lead when Matthew Loring beat Red Demons’ netminder Riley Lawryk just 2:10 into the second period.

Clearwater then went up 2-0 when Loring added his second of the contest.

From there, however, Williams Lake upped its tempo with Benn Taylor lighting the lamp on a two-man advantage to put the Red Demons within one.

Bobby Rankin sent the game to overtime with just two minutes remaining in the third period, capitalizing on a scramble in front of the net and beating Clearwater netminder Justin Sutherland.

The 10-team tournament ran from Friday, Jan. 14 to Sunday, Jan. 16 at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.

Taking third place in the tournament was Williams Lake Grey, beating Lac la Hache 6-2 to claim the bronze.