OK Tire took advantage of a prolonged slump in the real-estate market, as it claimed a share of first place in Trail Commercial Hockey League action last week.
Thanks to three straight Re/Max losses, the Tire climbed to the top of the TCHL standings with a 5-1 victory over Arlington Sunday.
The Tire sits tied at 34 points with the realtors, but enjoys a game in hand as they enter into the final month of play in the TCHL.
Arlington tied the Tire 4-4 on Thursday but were unable to keep them in tow on Sunday.
Shaun Venturini netted his 33rd goal of the season and the winner at 13:21 of the first period, finishing a nice setup from Shane Drake and Darrin Williams to make it 2-0.
The Tire owned the Arlington in the opening frame jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Darrin Williams started the scoring with assists from Drake and Darrin Kissock, before Venturini added his marker. Jeff Sidey followed that up with a nice effort, firing home a Peter Sheets pass by goalie Eric Volpatti.
Troy Palmer completed the scoring in the first, finishing a fine passing play from Kissock and Kyle Boutin to take a commanding lead.
The Big A marked its only goal at 18:09 of the second period when Jeremy Robinson beat the Tire’s top rubber-stopper Rocky Dickson, but Drake delivered the dagger at 5:51 of the middle frame to complete a three-point night. Williams also had a goal and two assists, while top-scoring Tire defenceman Kissock picked up a pair of helpers.
In other action Sunday, an emerging Firebird squad was coming off an 8-3 upset win over Re/Max on Thursday, but Allstar Maintenance buried the Bird with a 6-2 drubbing.
The insuperable D-man Brady Glover took a pass from Scott Davis and blasted the winning goal home at 15:31 of the second period, to launch Allstar to a 3-1 lead. Glover tops his team for points by a defenceman and is third in league scoring for defencemen with seven goals and 12 assists.
Firebird got on the board first when defenceman Albert Benson’s shot beat Allstar goalie Tim Wiley. However, after a Firebird penalty, the unheralded but always solid Allstar pointman Kris Koshey would net his first of the campaign to tie it at one on the power play.
One minute later Allstar seized the lead when Dan Devito finished a Layne Stopanski pass to make it 2-1 and following Glover’s marker, Ryan Zanussi pitched in banging home a Jason Proulx offering to make it 4-1.
Firebird’s Dan Lind would make it a two score game netting a power play goal when Dan Devito was off for roughing at 6:40 of the third. But that’s as close as the Firebird would get as Davis and Stopanski added late goals for Allstar to make it 6-2. Stopanski finished with a goal and two assists.
Allstar sits in third place in the TCHL standings with 27 points, while Firebird falls a point behind Arlington for last spot. TCHL action continues tonight when Re/Max looks to stop its skid against Firebird at 7:15 p.m. and Arlington takes on the Allstar at 8:30 p.m. .