Daniel Gentzler's late goals score thrilling overtime win for Macon Mayhem
When the season began in November for the Macon Mayhem, head coach Kevin Kerr pointed to a desire to have a team whose trademarks were toughness and hard work.
Those attributes were on full display Sunday afternoon against the Mayhem's rival, the Columbus Cottonmouths, all the way to the game's closing stretches. Macon trailed 1-0 before Daniel Gentzler tied the score with 1:38 left in regulation and won the game with 3.2 seconds remaining in overtime when Gentzler knocked a loose puck past Columbus goalie Shannon Szabados for the victory.
Macon improves to 10-12-3 while Columbus is 10-11-4, two points ahead of the Mayhem for sixth place in the SPHL standings.
THREE WHO MATTERED
Gentzler: He recently was named one of the Mayhem's co-captains, and he showed why Sunday. He took a pass out front of the goal from the behind the net, and his slap shot off an assist from Jake Trask and Shawn Skelly got past Szabados to tie the game with 1:38 to play. His late-game heroics were not finished. With 3.2 seconds to go, he got the puck past Szabados off a rebound from a shot by Ryan Michel to win it for the Mayhem
Szabados: The play of the Columbus goalie put the Cottonmouths in position to win in regulation until Gentzler's game-tying score, stopping a total of 42 shots. She kept the Mayhem off the board through most of the game, turning away scoring chances off of odd-man rushes, wrap-arounds, dump-and-chase puck placements and more.
Garrett Bartus: Macon's goalie ensured that the Mayhem were in position to tie the score in the late stages of the game. He stopped all but one of 26 shots, making sure that the Columbus lead stayed at one after Cory Freeman's first-period goal.
WORTH MENTIONING
Back on track: Macon's victory stopped a two-game losing streak after the Mayhem won a SPHL-best five games in a row. Columbus had won four of its previous five prior to Sunday.
Playing shorthanded: The Mayhem were without two of their leaders Sunday. Left winger Vadim Guskov and defenseman Curtis Megginson both missed the game with undisclosed injuries and were listed as day-to-day.
THEY SAID IT
Gentzler on the Mayhem's comeback: "We had chances all game, Szabados was playing well. We just had to keep firing pucks at her; they were going to go in eventually."
Gentzler on the game-winning score: "Michel has been good at taking the puck to the net. I just kind of followed him up, he got it back to me and I put it in."
Kerr on the win: "We're a hard-working team, and when you work hard, things pay off. I'm proud of our guys. They battled. We've come out flat the last couple of games and probably let some points slip away. (Sunday) we battled and could of just mailed it in, and they didn't."
Kerr on Gentzler: "He's one of those guys who got a (co-captain) letter for a reason. He's a young kid. He's my kind of hockey player. He works hard, grinds it out, and that's what it takes to get to the next level."
Kerr on snapping the two-game losing streak: "It's huge. When we won five games, you could start to see the fatigue setting in. We've had six games in nine days; that's the longest stretch that we've had. For them to just continue and battle and battle, I think this is probably the biggest win we've had this year. It's just a testament to some of the guys we have that never say die and never quit."
WHAT'S NEXT?
Macon returns to the ice Friday at the Macon Coliseum, hosting Knoxville.
This story was originally published January 3, 2016 at 8:38 PM with the headline "Daniel Gentzler's late goals score thrilling overtime win for Macon Mayhem ."