Thursday Thriller: St. Cloud Takes the Win in Overtime

Watertown 2 @ St. Cloud 3 (OT) - Dante Rodriguez was the hero for the St. Cloud Norsemen Thursday night, scoring the overtime winner in a 3-2 upset victory over the Watertown Shamrocks. Thursday’s contest was a tight-checking game with offense hard to come by. Neither side had a skater record more than one point, and both Watertown goaltender Mason Gudridge and St. Cloud goaltender Beck Liden had above a .910 save percentage. The seventh-place Norsemen have now won three of their last four games, with the Central Division-upset win, and close the gap for the final playoff spot on sixth-place Minot to just two points. Watertown still sits comfortably in fourth place in the Central with 61 points as they inch closer to locking up their playoff position. The first period saw no scoring from either side. The Norsemen had the better of the offensive pressure, outshooting the Shamrocks 11-4 in the first 20 minutes. Watertown got the scoring going nearly four minutes into the middle frame thanks to Justin Obrochta. His 10th goal of the year gave the Shamrocks a 1-0 lead. Christian Garrity tallied a power-play goal for St. Cloud shortly after to tie the game right back up at one tally apiece. His seventh marker of the season sent the game to the third period, all even. The Norsemen took their first lead of the night midway through the third period on Daylin Cline’s first goal of the campaign. An interference penalty from St. Cloud’s Wyatt Farrell inside two minutes proved costly for the Norsemen. Jordan Gutridge cashed in on the power play with just 1:03 remaining to even the score at 2-2 and send the game to extra time. Just 55 seconds into the fourth period, Rodriguez buried his eighth goal of the season past Mason Gudridge to steal the extra point away from the Shamrocks with a 3-2 overtime win.