The Kelowna Chiefs fought back twice to overcome serious deficits on the weekend - only once were they able to recover for a win.
Behind 4-1 in the first period and 5-3 in the third, to the visiting Creston Valley Thunder Cats on Sunday, the Chiefs forced overtime with a pair of power-play goals by Bryce Koch in the final 23 seconds of regulation time, and won the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League game 6-5 in the extra period.
Rookie Mitchell Barker notched the winner in OT off a feed from Nick Josephs. Scott Renner, Jordan Salahor and Brady Mende also scored for the Chiefs, who a night earlier dropped a 6-4 decision to the Sicamous Eagles, also at the Rutland Arena.
Tyler O'Donnell posted the win in goal for the Chiefs, stopping 37 of 42 Thunder Cats shots. His teammates peppered the Creston Valley net with 52 shots.
Having won nine of their past 12 games going into the weekend, the Chiefs appeared anxious to test their recent upswing against one of the top KIJHL teams on Friday.
But the Eagles made the most of their six shots on Chiefs starting goaltender Kenny Fitzgerald, who had gone into the game with a 1.88 goals-against average. It was 3-1 for Sicamous after 20 minutes.
The Chiefs clawed their way back to tie the game with a shorthanded goal by captain Kyle Clerke, but the Eagles responded with a power-play goal just 20 seconds later. While the Chiefs drew even again early in the third, Sicamous (14-5-2-3) tallied twice 34 seconds a part on the power play to salt away the win.
Renner, Salahor and Josephs also scored for the Chiefs, who resume play on Wednesday when they travel to Osoyoos to play the Coyotes. Kelowna is three points back of Osoyoos with two games in hand.