It was the seventeenth time this season that the Austin Bruins played an overtime game, but Austin was victorious on home ice as they took down the the Chippewa Valley Steel, 3-2.

It took the entire first period for the Bruins to crack the goose-eggs, but with only one second remaining in the opening frame, Carson Riddle started the scoring for the Bruins. On the power-play, Cullen Rush dropped a perfect pass onto the tape of Riddle at the base of the right circle and the Holly, MI, native pulled the trigger beating Chippewa goalie Grant Boldt over the shoulder for the 1-0 lead.

In the second period the Bruins took a two goal lead when Oleksiuk netted his first of the night powering a shot past Boldt from the high-slot for the 2-0 Bruins lead. The rest of the second period belonged to the Steel, however, namely Braiden Dorfman. On two separate power-plays, Dorfman was able to find the back of the net behind Bruins goalie Brett Miller, evening things out to 2-2 heading into the second intermission.

In the third period, both goaltenders stood their ground and didn’t give up the games third goal of the night. Late in the final frame, Chippewa’s Connor McGrath was called for hooking with the penalty time ultimately bleeding into the overtime period. It only took 30 seconds for the Bruins to cash in on the victory when Oleksiuk rifled a shot past traffic in front and Boldt for the game-winner.

On the night, Oleksiuk registered a point in each of the Bruins tallies including two goals and one assist. As for goaltenders, Brett Miller earns the win in his first matchup against the Steel this season while Grant Boldt was saddled with the loss. The victory pushes the Bruins to 27-16-2-5 on the year while the Steel drop to 29-17-3-1.

The two teams will meet again on Saturday night for a rematch and the final game in the season series.