Apr. 25—WATERTOWN, S.D. — EJ Paddington delivered time and again for the Austin Bruins throughout their 59-game run to the North American Hockey League Central Division regular season championship.
Paddington, the Bruins regular-season goals scored leader, with 38, delivered again late Saturday night, in his team's biggest game of the season.
With Austin on a power play nearly halfway through overtime, Paddington took a feed from Gavin Hruza and beat Watertown Shamrocks goalie Mason Gudridge to give the Bruins their second consecutive 4-3 OT victory, in Game 3 of a Central Division semifinal series at Prairie Lakes Ice Arena.
Paddington's goal also gave the Bruins a clean sweep of the best-of-5 series. Austin now advances to the Central Division Finals against either the Bismarck Bobcats or Aberdeen Wings. Bismarck leads that semifinal series 2-1.
The division finals are expected to begin on Friday, May 1, at Riverside Arena in Austin.
The top-seeded Bruins will get an extra day of rest thanks to their win Friday night.
Though the Shamrocks won five of eight meetings against Austin in the regular season, the Bruins found a way to win three straight one-goal games in the division semifinals.
Friday's game was a clone of most of the previous meetings between these teams this season. Neither team led by more than a goal and the score was tied after each period in regulation.
The teams traded power-play goals in the first period, with Watertown's Owen Fask scoring 3:55 in and Austin's Nathan Williams answering with just 11 seconds to go in the period.
Mikey Coleman struck quickly in the second, giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead 39 seconds in. Watertown responded with the next two goals for a 3-2 lead with 11:58 left in their period.
Austin tied the score with just 1:34 left in the second when Matsvei Marshchanok scored himself a first goal of the playoffs.
That left it a 3-3 game until Paddington scored the winner a period and a half later.
Gudridge was outstanding again. He finished with 47 saves in the game and 117 in the series, as Austin outshot Watertown 128-81 in the series and 51-27 in Game 3.
Jack Solomon, an Air Force Academy commit, won his third straight playoff game for the Bruins by making 24 stops.
An official schedule for the best-of-5 Central Division Finals will be announced once the Bismarck-Aberdeen series is complete. As the No. 1 seed, Austin will play at home in Games 1, 2 and, if necessary, 5.
First period — 1. WTN, Owen Fask 2 (Payton Struck, Justin Bartley) 3:55 (pp). 2. AUS, Nathan Williams 2 (Siamion Marshchanok, EJ Paddington) 19:49 (pp). Second period — 3. AUS, Mikey Coleman 1 (Paddington, Zander Lipsett) :39. 4. WTN, Henry Miller 1 (Jake Pietila, Daniel Halonen) 4:55. 5. WTN, Struck 1 (Brody Josselyn, Kyle Greene) 8:02. 6. AUS, Matsvei Marshchanok 1 (S. Marshchanok) 18:26. Third period — no scoring. Overtime — 7. Paddington 2 (Gavin Hruza, Williams) 8:15 (pp).
Shots on goal — AUS 9-18-14-10 — 51; WTN 12-7-5-3 — 27. Goalies — AUS, Jack Solomon (W, 3-0; 24 saves-27 shots); WTN, Mason Gudridge (L, 0-3; 47 saves-51 shots). Power-play opportunities — AUS, 2-for-4; WTN, 1-for-5. Penalties — AUS, 9-29 minutes; WTN, 7-25 minutes.