WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — Overtime goals aren’t always pretty. 

But it only matters that they go into the net, especially in the final game of the 2024 Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier II 14U 2A National Championship. 

The Jr. Coyotes (AZ) got an “ugly” goal at 5:36 of overtime to claim the 2A class title, defeating the Raleigh Raptors (NC) 2-1.

“It went in somehow,” the winning coach, Zbynek Michalek, said.

“It feels like a stomach punch when that’s the way it ends,” Raleigh coach, Stanley Misthios, said.

Atreyu Wesley had the puck behind the net, then he explained the rest.

“We dumped it in,” he said. “I just got the puck and tried to throw it in front of the net. It went off the defender’s skate and went five-hole.”

It was a close, hard-fought contest where the first goal wasn’t scored until 1:05 left in the second period when Raleigh took the initial lead.

Dean Margulies skated into the zone on the right side in initially a two-on-two situation. However, a Coyotes player fell, turning it into a two-on-one. Margulies feigned the pass and took the shot himself, placing it near side just inside the post.

The Jr. Coyotes had the better of the play in the first period with a 7-2 shot advantage while Raleigh turned the tide in the second with a 10-5 shot advantage. The Raptors missed two backdoor attempts, shooting the puck wide, as well as a failed breakaway opportunity.

Heading into the third period, Michalek told his players during intermission, “I said game is long, and we’ve been playing well in the third period. We were definitely full of confidence going into the third. We capitalized on our chance.”

After winning a battle along the boards, the puck was sent to the slot area, where Samson Koch fired it in for the 1-1 tie with 10:37 left in regulation.

Raleigh nearly broke the tie when a player coming out of the box had a breakaway, but he wasn’t able to handle the puck well enough to get a shot off. Despite outshooting the Coyotes in the third, 14-6, the game went to overtime.

In overtime, Raleigh barely missed another across the crease pass opportunity. 

“We had two chances early in overtime.”

Arizona did not miss their overtime chance, no matter how it came about.

“It was tight most of the way,” Misthios said. “Both teams represented their states well. We got the impression with the way the game started, that two goals were going to be enough. As it turns out, we were right. We were just unfortunately not the team that got the second one.”

Michalek concurred with that feeling.

“It was a really tight game since the beginning,” he said. “Both teams played hard. Either team could have won. Our goalie kept us in it. They were coming hard.”

Coyotes’ goalie, Trent Probst, made 29 saves in the win.

“Hockey is a crazy sport. Anything can happen,” Michalek said.

Especially in overtime.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.