Logan Stankoven rode the adrenaline of an overtime winner into an on-his-knees, sliding celebration and was eventually joined by teammates near centre ice on Saturday in Kelowna, where the Kamloops Blazers edged the Rockets 5-4 at Prospera Place.
The victory in what was likely Stankoven’s final game against the Rockets (26-36-4-0) pushed Kamloops (47-11-4-2, 100 points) to its first 100-point season since 1998-1999.
Rockets’ sniper Andrew Cristall put the home team in front 4-3 at 13:40 of the third period, but Ryan Hofer tipped in an Olen Zellweger shot about two minutes later to force overtime.
The marker was Hofer's 40th of the season.
Kamloops, which is on a nine-game winning streak, has won 20 of its last 21 games and finished the regular season with an 8-2 record against Kelowna, including a 5-2 triumph over the Rockets on Friday at Sandman Centre.
Connor Levis tallied his 25th and 26th goals of the season and Zellweger, who notched his 29th of the campaign, got one goal closer to becoming the first Blazers’ defenceman to crack the 30-goal mark since Ray Macias in 2006-2007.
Matthew Kieper stopped 25 shots to pick up the victory between the pipes.
Cristall (2), Carson Golder and Dylan Wightman had goals for the Rockets, whose starting netminder, Talyn Boyko, allowed one goal on five shots before leaving the game early in the first period.
Jari Kykkanen entered the contest and stopped 49 of 53 shots that came his way.
Both teams were 1-for-3 on the power play.
The Western Conference-leading Seattle Thunderbirds (52-9-1-2, 107 points) will play host to Kamloops on Tuesday.
