The Norwich Sea Captains earned a hard fought 2-1 overtime win over the New Jersey Titans on Friday afternoon, March 3 in North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) action at the RoseGardem Ice Arena. Tony Morran scored in regulation before assisting on Jack Kinahan’s overtime goal while Andrew Yocum earned his fourteenth win of the season in the Norwich net.
The first period was scoreless despite both teams generating a few dangerous chances. 6:33 into the middle frame Morran converted a smooth feed from Quinten Olshan and beat the Titans’ goalie through the five hole to open the scoring. Andry Guy was credited with the second assist on the goal. The Titans evened the score a little over ten minutes later when they converted on a power play opportunity with 3:02 left in the second.
The third period was also scoreless despite the Norwich offense applying significant pressure in the Titans’ zone throughout. Scoring chances were difficult to come by in a closely contested overtime, but the Sea Captains were able to create a chance and capitalize with 54.4 seconds left to earn the win. Jacob Begich established strong puck possession before moving the puck to Morran and then changing for Kinahan. Morran fed Kinahan an indirect pass off the boards that helped the eventual goal scorer gain the offensive zone where he passed to Brian Essing. Essing used a delay and fake to open a lane to the net. He then fired the puck hard and low. Kinahan found the rebound behind the New Jersey goaltender and slammed the game-winner home to seal the 2-1 victory.
Morran talked about his team’s effort saying, “We knew what we would need to do to be successful in Friday’s game, but we also knew that New Jersey would be giving us their best effort as they battle to earn a playoff spot. We had a really good start before a bit of sloppy play late in the second. However, we righted the ship in the third and had plenty of confidence going into overtime that we would find the game winning goal. Jack’s goal is what we all want Sea Captains hockey to look like; a hard and wide entry that led to a low, hard shot from Brain that created a rebound and then Jack relentlessly hunting the puck to net the winner.”
The two teams will meet again on Saturday, March 4 at 5:45 PM at the RoseGarden in the regular season finale for both teams. The Sea Captains will recognize their 2002 birth year players prior to the game. Tickets are available HERE.