Written By BRIAN LOCKHART

It was a game that had to go into overtime to decide a winner and provided an exciting day for both players and fans when the Centre Dufferin District High Schools (CDDHS) Royals met the Westside Secondary School Thunder from Orangeville in their District 4 semi-final playoff game on Monday, Feb. 23.

Centre Dufferin came to the semi-final as the top-seeded team after finishing first in the District standings with an 8-2-2 record.

Westside finished in fourth place in the standings with a 3-7-2 record.

District 4 girls' hockey is played as a series of tournament days at different venues in different towns. On tournament days, each team plays three games.

The semi-final game got underway at 12 p.m., with many fans in the stands.

Westside opened the scoring with the first goal.

Centre Dufferin tied it up in the second period to make it a 1-1 game.

The Royals went ahead on a breakaway and a goal to take the lead, then followed up with another goal to make it a 3-1 game heading into the second period.

It was the third period that really turned the game around when Westside scored to close the gap.

The Thunder scored again with 3:07 remaining in the third period to tie the game at three.

Westside got a penalty, and the Royals went on the power play with a wild effort to get the lead with only a couple of minutes left on the clock.

When the buzzer sounded to end the third period, the game was still tied, and the game went into a regulation ten-minute overtime period.

The Royals scored at 1:48 into the four-on-four OT period to win the game 4-3 and earn the right to advance to the District championship.

“It was a rough game, and it was a tie so it was pretty scary, but we came back and put ourselves together,” summed up Royals forward Jaycee Aikins after the game. “The four-on-four (overtime) made me even more nervous because there was so much more space on the ice. We got the puck back, went down and scored.”

Teammate Brook Baird, who plays left wing, said she thought her team played a solid game during the semi-final match-up.

“I thought we played well. We don't always play great against Westside, but I think the powerplays helped us,” Brook said. “We did well on dumping on the puck and chasing it, and crashing the net. I think crashing the net really helped out because that goalie is pretty good and you just need to get in front of the net and shovel.”

In the other District 4 girls' hockey semi-final, Erin District High School defeated Wellington Heights Secondary School 2-1.

Erin finished second in the regular season with a 7-4-1 record.

This sets up the top two teams in District 4 for this year's championship game.