In an intersectional battle between teams with similar records, Batavia Notre Dame United and the visiting Williamsville East Flames played to a 3-3 overtime draw Tuesday night at the Batavia Ice Arena.
Brady Johnson’s goal with 7:01 remaining in the third period lifted United to the tie in a game that saw the home team outshoot their Section VI opponent by a 41-26 margin.
BND, now 6-4-2 in Section V, has a week off before facing Geneseo/Avon/Livonia at 6 p.m. Jan. 18 at Wilson Ice Arena on the Geneseo State College campus.
The game-tying play developed when Johnson gathered the puck at the blue line and moved it to Jameson Motyka who raced down the left side of the rink. Motyka then made a nifty backhand pass to Johnson, who beat Williamsville East goaltender Luke Fryling. Andrew Kasmarek earned an assist.
Both teams scored a goal in each of the three periods.
Johnson opened the scoring just 1:57 into the game when he rebounded a shot by Vin DiRisio. Gavin Schrader also picked up an assist on the play.
Three minutes later, Peter Nostrant scored the first of his two goals for the Flames, 5-4-2, by slapping the puck past United goalie Courtney Schum after being left alone in front of the net.
The visitors took a 2-1 lead 13 seconds into the second period as Caden Cavalieri scored on a rebound of his initial shot, but Motyka tied it up at the 13:01 mark by converting a rebound off a shot by teammate Ronin Hofmaster. Johnson also picked up an assist on the play.
Nostrand’s goal 4:17 into the third period came after teammate Ryan Ljiljanich won a faceoff to give the Flames a 3-2 edge.
United applied a lot of pressure on the Flames’ defense at the end of the third period and into overtime but was unable to put the puck past Fryling, who withstood four United power plays throughout the contest.
