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By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Staff Writer  

HUNTSVILLE– After three periods of back and forth action, the Birmingham Bulls scored an overtime goal to defeat the Huntsville Havoc 5-4 in a Thanksgiving game on Thursday, Nov. 28 at the Propst Arena in Huntsville.

But despite their early success, the Bulls ended the holiday weekend 1-2 with a 4-2 loss at Huntsville on Friday, Nov. 29 and a 4-3 loss against the Pensacola Ice Flyers on Saturday, Nov. 30.

For the Thanksgiving game on Thursday, Nov. 28, the Bulls traveled to Huntsville’s Propst Arena for a holiday showdown between in-state rivals.

Determined not to let the Havoc capitalize on the home-ice advantage, Birmingham’s Carson Rose hit the ice with an intensity that resulted in the first goal of the game scored less than two minutes after puck drop.

Less than five minutes after that, Rose capitalized off the momentum of his first goal to get another puck past Huntsville netminder Mike Robinson to give the Bulls an early two-goal lead.

For the remainder of the first period, the Havoc battled to gain ground. After an unsuccessful power play, Huntsville got on the board with a goal from Matt Allen at the 14:39 mark.

The Havoc exited the tunnel to start the second period with a vengeance.

After going on the power play due to a delay of game penalty from Birmingham’s Corson Green, Huntsville’s Dylan Stewart scored against Bulls netminder Hayden Stewart at the 4:01 mark to tie the game.

Two minutes after that goal, Birmingham’s Trevor Thurston committed a cross-checking penalty at the 5:26 mark. In the same play, both Thurston and Huntsville’s Benito Posa received double minors for roughing.

Less than one minute into that power play, Birmingham’s Taylor Brierley committed a slashing penalty and Huntsville’s Austin Alger was able to capitalize on the man advantage for the power play goal, resulting in a one-goal lead for the Huntsville Havoc.

After a couple more exchanged penalties, the two teams finished the second period with the Havoc in the lead 3-2.

The Huntsville Havoc once again found the back of the net early in the third period with Buster Larsson scoring at the 4:25 mark, but the Birmingham Bulls did not let that goal go unanswered with Brierley scoring just 32 seconds later.

With the score at 4-3 in Huntsville’s favor, the Birmingham Bulls were in a race against the clock to tie the game. After another five minutes, the Bulls’ Kolten Olynek scored at the 10:02 mark to tie the game in the third.

The two teams battled for the remainder of the third period, with neither team able to pull ahead before the end of regulation.

In the third period, neither team committed a single infraction, but this streak was broken as Larsson committed a tripping penalty 2:27 into overtime to send the Birmingham Bulls on the power play. This penalty proved to be lethal as Birmingham’s MacGregor Sinclair scored a goal just 31 seconds into the power play to give the Bulls a 5-4 overtime victory.

The Bulls’ Thanksgiving victory proved to be their only win in the holiday weekend after a 4-2 loss at Huntsville on Friday, Nov. 29 and a 4-3 loss against the Pensacola Ice Flyers on Saturday, Nov. 30.