Marksmen complete comeback, defeat Roanoke in OT

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.- The Fayetteville Marksmen, proud members of the Southern Professional Hockey League, defeated the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs, 5-4 in overtime on Friday night.

Taylor Best was a hero, factoring in on every Marksmen goal. Best finished with two goals and three assists.

The game started off in Roanoke’s favor and both Nick Ford and Nick DeVito scoring 50 seconds apart from each other in the middle of the first period.

After falling in a 2-0 hole, Mark Wilson scored his first professional goal to make it 2-1 where Austyn Roudebush lost his footing in the Roanoke net. Wilson would also add an assist in the period.

Roanoke and Fayetteville traded goals in the second after Wilson’s marker. Gehrett Sargis and Brady Heppner scored for Roanoke, separated by Best’s first of two.

The Marksmen had chances on the powerplay in the period, but failed to scored and ended 0-for-4 on the powerplay.

After a stalemate through the first 10 minutes of the third period, the Marksmen broke through with a Tommy Besinger breakaway goal.

Just 57 seconds later, Best would deliver the game-tying goal on a feed from Drake Glover.

After Brent Moran slammed the door in the late stages of the third period, the Marksmen would battle into the final minute of overtime before Don Olivieri scored to end the game with 25 seconds to go in sudden-death.

The Marksmen win sets up a matchup tomorrow that will determine their playoff seed.

If the Marksmem, Peoria Rivermen, and Huntsville Havoc all win or all lost tomorrow, the Marksmen will finish in fourth place and will face the Quad City Storm.

If the Marksmen win and Peoria loses in any fashion vs. Vermilion County, the Marksmen would hop over Peoria in the standings. If the Marksmen win and Huntsville loses in regulation, the Marksmen would hop them in the standings.

Fayetteville owns the tiebreaker on both Peoria and Huntsville in the case of a tie.

If the Marksmen win tomorrow, they will become the third team in league history to win 40 games in a regular season.

Tickets are still available for tomorrow night and the final game of the regular season. You can get yours by clicking the tickets tab at marksmenhockey.com.