Brad Day is the shootout hero as Telford Tigers topple leaders

Brodie Jesson and Vladimir Luka were on target for Tigers during a 2-2 draw, before netminder Brad Day was the hero of the shootout.

And head coach Tom Watkins feels the result could have been even better for the Tigers.

“To be honest, we should have won it in regulation time with the power play opportunity we had in the final minutes,” he said. “We then should have won it in overtime with another power play chance but we had the character to pick ourselves up and win the shootout. The team were huge and every player stepped up to the challenge, solely focused on the task in hand and executed it perfectly.

“Leeds had chances as we were playing a very talented offensive team and we had five players missing but we were gritty, smart in possession and had a fantastic result in a tough rink to get any points from.”

Tigers were short-benched after Bayley Harewood left the club in the week to join Bristol Pitbulls and long-term absentees Deakan Fielder and Jonathan Weaver were joined on the sidelines by Jack Watkins, Nick Oliver and Scott McKenzie.

Tigers had managed to obtain the services of Ross Kennedy and Jared Dickenson on a short-term loan from Deeside Dragons to bolster the squad, but it looked an ominous task against a strong Leeds team.

A goalless first period saw both team pressing for the opening goal but netminders Day and Sam Gospel were in good form.

Tigers opened the scoring midway through the second period with Fin Howells continuing his recent run of point scoring by setting up Jesson for the opening goal of the contest. But Leeds hit back within a couple of minutes of Telford scoring with an unassisted goal from Cole Shudra, beating Day with a low shot that gave him no chance.

With chances at a premium, Telford edged back in front early in the third period. Top scorer Luka buried a wrist shot past Gospel to give Tigers a narrow lead. But Telford only held the lead for two minutes as Shudra equalised again.

And after missing the opportunity to score through two more powerplays – one in overtime – Day saved three times in the shootout while Luka and Howells found the target.