The Cranston boys hockey co-op added to its rivalry with Exeter West Greenwich-West Warwick by taking a thrilling 6-5 overtime win last week in a pivotal Division II showdown.

The last time the two clubs met was in the opening round of the playoffs last year and the Falcons would get a 6-5 victory … in overtime. The two clubs have been neck and neck in the standings over the past two seasons, but a wrench was thrown in Cranston’s game plan when starting goalie Jaedon Case fell ill just hours before puck drop, forcing backup Nathan Wilson in net for his first ever varsity game.

“You didn’t know what was going to happen, especially after finding out at 2 o’clock in the afternoon that you were going to be without your starting goalie. The kids wanted to step up and try to make him feel comfortable, that’s what we were emphasizing. ‘Let’s ease into the game, let’s let him breath for a few minutes,’” said Cranston coach Matt Brannon.

The plan played out well in the early going as the Falcons cruised to a 5-1 lead. However, EWG-WW would get rolling late in the second period to score four answered goals to eventually force overtime.

Grant Bailey would go on to score the game-winner for Cranston less than five minutes into the extra period to grab the win. Nathan Kempe scored a pair of goals for the Falcons while Devin DeAngelis, Harry Woloohojian and Jacob Bovay also scored. Justin Drohen recorded three assists. Wilson stopped 51 shots in net.

“We got off to a great start but credit to (EWG-WW), they were able to come back. We were fortunate to be able to walk out of the DII game with points,” said Brannon, who was thrilled to see Wilson and step up in his debut. “You never know what you’re going to get from someone in their first varsity game. We thought that he was going to be nervous, but he held his composure pretty well. Obviously not knowing that you’re starting until 2 o’clock, it doesn’t give you much time to think about it. Credit to him for going in there and stepping up for us and credit to the rest of the team for doing whatever it takes to get the win and protect our net.”

The Falcons improved to 3-1 in league play and held on to second place in their division. Cranston will now take on the other side of Division II in the next few weeks, and Brannon looks forward to seeing what his club is capable of down the stretch.

“We’re excited, we’re happy to be 3-1 on our side of the bracket. We’ve been put to the test so far going through our conference so now we’ll see what happens when we’re put up against the opposite side,” Brannon said. “We’re still a young team, we’re playing three lines and they all played well. We challenged a couple of them at practice during the week, telling them that we needed more for them. It was nice to see it pay off and hopefully we can carry this momentum moving forward.”