CWPA Eastern Championships: St. Francis defeats Bucknell, 10-9 in overtime

Overtime was needed at the 2012 CWPA Eastern title game, and it was the North's St. Francis who came out on top to defeat Bucknell 10-9. The game winning shot came from tournament MVP Marko Gencic, he scored on a skip shot after receiving a pass from Balint Toth with 1:25 left in the second overtime period for the win.

With the win, St. Francis will be heading to their third-ever NCAA tournament berth. This was a game of runs, and they all took place in the second half. At the end of the first two periods the game was tied at four, but in the fourth quarter it was all St. Francis who scored four straight goals to go up a commanding 8-4. Bucknell did manage to get a goal on the board to trail 8-5 at the end of the third period.

Then in the fourth quarter it was all Bucknell who scored the only three goals in the final frame, and forced overtime. The tying goal from Bucknell came at the 2:40 mark in regulation. St. Francis had a great chance to win the game as they called a a timeout with 47 seconds to set up a final scoring chance, but the play came up short and the two teams headed to extra frames.

The first overtime saw both teams score a goal, Bucknell scored within the first 30 seconds, and then St. Francis tied the game once again with just under a minute left in the first extra frame. The final goal came under 90 seconds with Gencic's skip shot.

Bucknell was not done, they had a 6 on 5 chance with less than a minute left, but the St. Francis defense killed the power play to get the win. Power play was an area where Bucknell could have played better in this game. They were just 4 of 13, and had they just been slightly better they could become Eastern Champions.

Here is the box score of the title game:

Bucknell Goals: Brian Barron (4); Alex Nowlin (2); Jack Else; Stefan Aleksic; Max McElvy

St. Francis Goals: Marko Gencic (3); Vuk Vujosevic (2); Marko Dzigurski (2); Bosko Stankovic (2); Liam Veazey

Saves: Bucknell - Matt Napleton (10) ; St. Francis - Igor Mladenovic (6)

Exclusions: Bucknell - 5 ; St. Francis - 13

Advantage Opportunities: Bucknell - 4-for-13 ; St. Francis - 1-for-5