Talon Sigurdson’s Overtime Hattrick Goal Wins Game for Wolverines

Dec 11, 2021

Anchorage, Alaska | 12/11/21 | Isaac Smoldon

For the second time in as many days, Anchorage and Kenai’s game was decided by an overtime goal. Unlike Friday’s contest, it would be the Wolverines skating away with a win, as Talon Sigurdson’s overtime hattrick goal gave his team a 5-4 victory. Anchorage’s win ensured that both teams picked up three points on the weekend in the Club 49 Cup standings, and the team now sits just one point back of Fairbanks, while maintaining a six-point lead over the Brown Bears.  The Wolverines’ win also pushes them back into 3rd in the Midwest Division standings.

The only goal of the 1st period would come just 23 seconds after puck-drop, with Gramm McCormack sneaking a shot past Shane Soderwall after it was tipped in front. The 1st would come to an end with Kenai up by one, in part due to another outstanding performance from Bryant Marks, who stopped all 12 of Anchorage’s shots.

It would be just over 35 minutes before the next goal of the contest would occur. The Wolverines’ first of the game came from Talon Sigurdson off a back-door pass from Campbell Cichosz. Anchorage extended the lead with 55 seconds left in the 2nd, as Cichosz got his own goal off a shorthanded break. Kenai was able to respond before the end of the frame however, as Kaden Hjelm potted his first of the night with just 5 seconds left on the clock, allowing his team to go into the 3rd tied 2-2 with the Wolverines.

The 3rd was a fleury of back-and-forth action, and it started when Kenai re-established their one-goal lead just 3 minutes and 47 seconds into the period. Sigurdson responded with his 22nd goal of the season, knotting the game back up at 3. Next it would be Gage Brown scoring for the home team, notching his first of the year off of a rebound in front. Despite Kenai taking a 5-minute major with just over 4 minutes to play in regulation, a short-handed goal from McCormack just 10 seconds into the penalty kill made the game even once more. The Brown Bears were able to steal a point in the contest, despite a 5-3 opportunity for the Wolverines late in the frame, and for the second night in a row, both teams skated into overtime.

In OT, Kenai started off with a strong kill, but Sigurdson’s shot off the pass from Aiden Westin beat Marks just 38 seconds into extra-time. The hattrick goal was Sigurdson’s 23rd of the year, and gave him his third hattrick of the season.

Anchorage now heads down to the Lower 48 until late January, with the team playing eight games on the road before they return to Ben Boeke. Their first home series occurs on January 21st ,22nd, and will take place against the Wolverine’s division rivals, the Fairbanks Ice Dogs.