EAST ALTON – Bethalto's hockey team was close – very close – to scoring a big win Tuesday night.
Edwardsville's Sam Gibbons had other ideas.
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Gibbons scored a shorthanded goal with the Tigers playing with an empty net with 2.1 seconds to go to give Edwardsville a 4-4 tie with the Eagles in a Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association game at East Alton Ice Arena. The draw put the Tigers at 1-0-1 on the year (three points) while the Eagles went to 2-0-1 (five points) on the year.
The Eagles got a hat trick from Joe Watson to nearly pull off the win. “He's one of the leaders on the team,” said Eagle coach Derek Kahl. “It's the first time that my seniors on the team have gotten a point against one of the Edwardsville varsity teams, so it's a good accomplishment for them, knowing they were that close to winning the game.
“I'm elated with how they played tonight, yes.”
“Edwardsville's always a good team,” Watson said. “We came in knowing it was going to be a tough game and we had the mentality that we had to grind it out. We definitely want to stay undefeated as long as we can; they're definitely one of the top two or three, maybe the No. 1 team in the league.
“It feels good to get a tie out of this one. Our offense is going quick, and that's good going into the games.”
“We knew they were a good team,” said Tiger coach Jason Walker. “I've seen the games they've played up to this point; we're learning, we've got a lot of young guys and there were some good things and some bad things.”
“The negative of the game was the start we got off to; we didn't have the first period that we wanted to. I thought we played a little bit slower; it's a learning experience for these guys. Hopefully we can build off that – the comeback at the end was big and showed a lot of character. It's something we can build off of.”
Watson started off the scoring for the Eagles when, with the Tigers' Kellin Roettgers off for roughing, Watson took a pass from Konnor Loewen and scored with 2:44 to go in the first period to put the Eagles up 1-0; Watson extended the lead to 2-0 on an unassisted goal just 38 seconds into the second period.
Edwardsville answered with a pair of goals from Collin Salter with 8:04 left in the period and from Mark Tucker with 3:25 left in the second to send the game into the second intermission tied at 2-2. It stayed that way until the 5:55 mark in the third period when Nolan Kahl scored to put the Eagles up 3-2.
Edwardsville countered again with a goal from William Schuster, assisted by Andrew LaRose, that tied the game up again at 3-3, but Watson seemingly won the game for the Eagles when he got a pass from Anthony Russo with 1:35 to go to put Bethalto ahead at 4-3. The Eagles had a chance to sew it up when Connor Hinterser was taken off for a trip with 36.5 seconds left and the Tigers playing with a sixth attacker, but the extra attacker despite playing shorthanded paid off thanks to Gibbons' goal right before the buzzer.
The Tigers play East Alton-Wood River at 7:15 p.m. Thursday at East Alton, while the Eagles meet up with Alton at 8:45 p.m. Monday at East Alton.
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