Cole Shudra’s overtime winner secured Sheffield Scimitars the inaugural Ice Hockey UK U20s National Finals trophy with a 4-3 victory over Fife Falcons at Dumfries Ice Bowl.
Liam Kirk scored a hat-trick in regulation time as the English champions edged a thrilling final.
Sheffield went ahead at 2:25 as Kirk slotted the puck low into an unguarded net, after Fife netminder Andrew Little had made a fantastic point-blank save.
Fife turned the game on its head with three goals in a remarkable 96-second spell in the second period.
Liam Cassidy’s powerplay rebound (26:39) was followed 25 seconds later by Garry Simpson scoring on the doorstep (27:04), while Cally Robertson made it 3-1 at 28:15.
Kirk scored his second of the game to reduce the arrears (35:27) when he fired low under Little from the slot.
He then completed his hat-trick at 43:02 with a one-time blast from out in front to level the game at 3-3.
Fife netminder Little saved a penalty shot from Sheffield’s Charlie Thompson at 51:41.
It set up the dramatic finale and three-on-three overtime – and Shudra broke and fired top shelf to win a breathtaking final at 61:24.
Sheffield coach, Heather McDermott, said: “I feel absolutely over the moon with the guys.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more. They worked so hard for 62 minutes.
“It was an absolute fantastic job by all of the guys.”
To see a photo gallery of the weekend and to purchase photographs, click here.
For more details about a weekend DVD which is available to purchase now, click here.
Match action photo credit: Kevin Sloan.