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Tahoe Icemen swept in close fashion by Vancouver at SLT Ice Arena, suffers pair of double overtime defeats

Anthony Gentile
agentile@tahoedailytribune.com
Tahoe forward Ivan Radetskyi tries to put the puck on net while dodging Vancouver goaltender Liam Bohm-Meyer during a WSHL Northwest Division contest Friday, Dec. 2, at South Lake Tahoe Ice Arena.
Anthony Gentile / Tahoe Daily Tribune |

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — The Tahoe Icemen hockey team played three close games against the Vancouver Rangers in a WSHL Northwest Division series at South Lake Tahoe Ice Arena last weekend, Dec. 2-4. Unfortunately for the Icemen, none of the contests — including two that went to double overtime — resulted in a victory.

Tahoe fell 5-4 in double overtime in the series opener Friday, Dec. 2, unable to close out Vancouver. The Icemen erased a two-goal deficit with three goals in the third period, taking a 4-3 lead with 6:08 left on Artem Verbenko’s second of the contest.

That lead stood up until late in the third period, when Vancouver tied the game with 1:34 to play. The visitors then struck 49 seconds into double overtime — on a goal from Paul Frys — to deliver the victory and limit Tahoe to a point from the contest.



In the second game of the series Saturday, Dec. 3, the Icemen lost 6-3 in a contest that featured 25 combined penalties. Tahoe took a 3-2 lead on a goal from Phil Heisse with 13:32 left in regulation, but Vancouver rattled off four goals unanswered to hand the Icemen a second straight defeat.

The series finale Sunday, Dec. 4, featured 35 combined penalties and again went the distance. The end result was a 6-5 loss for Tahoe in double overtime, as the Rangers completed the series sweep.



Tahoe trailed 5-3 at the second intermission, and scored two power play goals in a 29-second span in the third period to force overtime. Colton Langowski completed a hat trick by scoring with a 5-on-3 advantage with 4:39 left in regulation, then Arunas Bermejo struck with the man advantage to make it 5-5.

The score remained tied until double overtime, when Vladislav Polyashov produced the game-winner with 3:53 remaining. The Russian forward that played for the Lake Tahoe Blue during the 2014-15 season scored against his old club to end the three-game set.

Langowski had four goals and an assist during the series, Verbenko finished with three goals and an assist, and Heisse added two goals and an assist. Burmejo and Ivan Radetskyi each had a goal and three assists against Vancouver while Bogdan Klochkov collected a team-high four assists.

Tahoe (7-14-3) returns to action Friday, Dec. 9, for a three-game series at the Southern Oregon Spartans. The Icemen have nine straight road contests before returning home for a series Jan. 27-29 at SLT Ice Arena.


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