Streatham Redskins fell just short of a place in the NIHL Cup South One final after losing on penalties to Chelmsford Chieftains this weekend.
Having lost the first leg 4-3 at home on Saturday, Redskins leveled the tied on aggregate on Sunday with a 5-4 win in Chelmsford.
Sudden death could not separate the sides so it came down to a shootout.
Sean Scarbrough saw his shot saved, Steve Fisher hit the bar and Callum Best shot over to give Chelmsford a 1-0 shootout win and a place in the final.
The first leg saw Redskins start brightly with Scarbrough and Jakub Klima giving the Londoners a 2-0 lead inside five minutes and 37 seconds.
The hosts dominated the first period but conceded before the break when the puck deflected went off defender Jack Tarczycki and into the net.
Chelmsford then leveled the match through Darren Brown at the start of the second period before Matt Turner gave the visitors the lead in the third.
Martin Piecha made it 4-2 shortly after but Scarbrough reduced the deficit to just one goal late in the game to give Redskins a chance in the return leg.
They made a game of it the next day when Fisher gave Streatham the lead after just six minutes and five seconds.
Chelmsford then scored two goals in 40 seconds midway through the period to take the lead but defender Dominic Hopkins ensured Redskins would go into the break with a tie game when he scored with just over a minute to go.
The visitor’s chances of progression then seemed all but over when Chelmsford scored two answered goals midway through the second period to make it 8-5 on aggregate.
But just when everything seemed lost Scarbrough came to the rescue yet again when he pulled one back on 31.05 before Adam Wood leveled it just 1.38 later with a powerplay goal.
The sides finished the period level with Redskins needing just one more goal to level the tie.
The visitors pushed Chelmsford in the final period and were finally rewarded when Tarczycki made it 5-4 on 47.07 to make it 8-8 on aggregate.
Redskins pushed on in search of a late winner but with no further goals the game then went into five minutes of sudden death.
Chances were few and far between the two sides in what was a nervy overtime spell, with the game heading into a penalty shootout.
Despite Will Sanderson saving the second shot by Piecha, Turner’s successful effort was enough to put Chelmsford through.
Feature image of Callum Best, courtesy of Rick Webb, with thanks
