Returning to the ice for their second game in less than twenty four hours after defeating the Cobourg Cougars by a score of 3-1 on Saturday night, the St. Michael’s Buzzers faced another crucial contest against the struggling Pickering Panthers at St. Michael’s College School Arena on Sunday afternoon. While the Panthers are not a team chasing the Buzzers for a playoff position – Pickering currently sits in last place in the East Division – earning two points was nevertheless crucial as St. Michael’s tries to cement a playoff position of their own in the West Division and begin to climb up the standings over their remaining ten games.

Through the first two periods, the Buzzers effort was forgettable as they showed no signs of energy or intensity and rarely challenged Panthers’ netminder Anthony Kimlin despite directing twenty eight shots at the Pickering net. However, after falling down 2-0 early on in the third period, the Buzzers rallied to tie the game by the 16:03 mark before Nick Ciampini fired home the winner 2:51 into the overtime session.

“Today was not our best effort but we kind of anticipated a little bit of a sluggish start simply because we played eighteen hours ago and Pickering hadn’t played since December 30th,” said Buzzers’ Head Coach Mike DePellegrin. “We certainly came out the way we anticipated, we were very sluggish in the first period, we found a little bit of our legs in the second period but by no means was it a complete Buzzer effort for three periods today. The silver lining is we found a way to win and that’s an important lesson for us as we have the stretch run to the playoffs but we have to be a better team for three periods.”

After turning the puck over at the offensive blueline, the Panthers raced back on a three on two, eventually resulting in the first goal of the game when Kyle Ramsay tapped home a Tyler von Engelbrechten pass, giving Pickering a 1-0 lead at the 3:55 mark of the first period.

The score would stay that way until early in the third period when Buzzers’ netminder Charles Williams made two big stops before Khalid Alli finally pounced on the rebound and tucked it in to grow the lead to a pair of goals.

At that point, St. Michael’s appeared to gain some steam and began skating and dictating the tempo of play for the first time in the game. At the 3:56 mark on the power play, Kyle Morrison finished an efficient rush in which the Buzzers moved the puck with confidence, giving them their first goal of the game.

The goal was the second for Morrison in the last two games after scoring in Cobourg on Saturday. Over the past two contests, Morrison has spent some time playing left wing on a line with Mike Hawkrigg and Anthony Rizzo in place of Lucas Lessio – who is competing with Team Ontario at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge - and has rewarded the coaching staff for his increased ice time with a solid contribution.

“What Mo (Morrison) is doing really well now is he’s winning his battles and taking the puck to the net, there’s not a lot of hesitation in his game which is making him more of an effective player,” said DePellegrin. “He was playing fourth line centre and maybe saw that as a bit of a demotion and fought his way back. When we were shorthanded in our line up, we gave him the opportunity to play on the second line and he’s taken full advantage of it. He’s doing well for us right now.”

With time quickly evaporating on the Buzzers’ comeback hopes, Alex Protomanni held the puck in at the blueline and fired it on goal through a maze of legs allowing Dan Cameron to shovel in the rebound to tie the game with just 3:57 left.

Midway through the overtime period, Nick Ciampini stepped up as the hero when he one-timed a pass from the top of the right wing circle past Kimlin to give the Buzzers a 3-2 come from behind win. The goal was Ciampini’s fifth of the season and second overtime winner – the first coming on November 6th, 2009 in a 5-4 overtime victory over the Seguin Bruins.

“It definitely feels good to come out with two points,” said Ciampini. “We came from a long bus ride after going out to Cobourg and getting two points there. We came back and played in less than twenty four hours, we kicked it into another gear in the third because we didn’t want to lose the two points we just gained the night before. I have to give it to everybody, especially Chas (Charles Williams) who definitely showed up to play today.”

Williams turned aside thirty nine shots for his ninth victory of the season.

As the most tenured veteran on the Buzzers’ blueline, Ciampini sits tied with Joe Luongo for the lead in scoring among defensemen with eighteen points and leads the way in terms of goals with five.

“I’m really pushing to show the coaching staff that I want to lead our defence corps into the playoffs and I feel like with the way I’ve been playing lately, it’s coming successfully,” said Ciampini. “They’ve looked at me to definitely lead the back end and I’m trying to do as much as I can to help our team go forward.”

The Buzzers will be off until Friday when they will welcome the Newmarket Hurricanes into St. Michael’s College School Arena for their final head to head meeting of the season. As one of the top teams in the West Division, the Hurricanes present another measuring stick for the Buzzers to gauge their level of play heading into the stretch run.