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Comets advance with game six overtime victory

Feb 17, 2019 | 12:07 PM

Taylor Paulovich scored 1:16 into overtime, as the Manning Comets defeated the Grimshaw Huskies 5-4, advancing to the second round of the NPHL playoffs in six games.

It was the Huskies who got on the board first, as Bond Hawryluk beat league MVP Braden Gamble, giving Grimshaw a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

The second period saw a lot of back-and-forth early in the frame, as Payton Proskurnak tied it up just 54 seconds into the second. That lead lasted only 25 seconds, as Mark Simpson restored the lead for the Huskies. Matt Boyd made it 2-2 less than two minutes after that, tying the game just 3:12 into the second.

Proskurnak made it 3-2 late in the period with his second of the game, sending the Comets to the room up by one after 40.

Manning added to that lead, with Boyd scoring his second of the game early in the third, putting the Comets up two.

The Huskies would battle back with their season on the line. Isaak Hudson scored on a power play shortly after Boyd’s second of the game, bringing the game within one.

Grimshaw cut it close, but did tie it up with 2:53 to go, with Cole Diewert beating Gamble. That would send the game to overtime.

In the extra frame, the Comets would only need to one shot to knock-off the Huskies, with the NPHL rookie-of-the-year in Paulovich icing it just 1:16 into overtime.

The Comets advance to take on the Dawson Creek Canucks in the league Semi-Finals. The league is yet to announce the schedule for that series.

The other semi has Grande Prairie in Falher for game one, starting on Thursday.