Hughes Heroics Heave Outliers to First Overtime Victory

PARK CITY, UT — Forward Hank Hughes provided the finishing touch in overtime for the Park City Outliers (8-1-0-0) in their first sudden-death victory, taking down the Casper Warbirds (2-5-2-0) 4-3 on Friday night at the Black Rock Mountain Event Center. The rookie’s first O.T. tally in the N.C.D.C. arrived after more than 40 minutes without a goal and a hectic first period.

Hughes recalled that he found the puck in the right spot. He said, “I was just gassed trying to get off the ice, and [Andy Brown] just shot it, and it was sitting there on a platter with my name on it.”

“I just tapped it in and celly’d with the boys,” he continued. The ‘boys’ opened up the game with two goals within the first three and a half minutes. Forward Jonathan Lee buried the first goal just 22 seconds into the contest before Alex Small’s powerplay score just over three minutes later. Casper then responded with three goals before the end of the frame. Outliers forward Chris Lundie evened the score 14 seconds into the middle period.

“Now we’ve got great momentum,” Hughes considered after the back-and-forth run. “Hopefully we can take it to Vernal.”

That overtime marker keeps the 17-year-old’s points streak alive at all eight games in which he appeared. It also advanced the neon and black’s winning streak to five contests. Hughes said that by the time the puck popped out in front of an open net, he “… was just trying to get through the game at that point.”

“[Head coach Richard Bohan] called my name, and I was like, ‘Let’s go, here.’”

Park City hits the road for its third-straight Saturday in Vernal. The Outliers match up with the Oilers at 8 p.m. before returning home to rematch with the Warbirds on Sunday. Puck drop stands set for 5:05 p.m. at the Black Rock Mountain Event Center. Fans can purchase tickets online at www.pcoutliers.com/tickets.