Six days ago, the Northland Pines Eagles edged the Point-Rapids Red Panthers 1-0 in Wisconsin Rapids. This week, the Red Panthers made the trip to the Eagle River Sports Arena (aka, 'The Dome') for a Great Northern Conference rematch and it turned out to be a barn-burner, as the Red Panthers came back from an early 2-0 deficit and finished with a 2-2 tie Thursday evening.

On a weekend when the USA Pond Hockey Championship would be played on nearby Dollar Lake, the Red Panthers and Eagles provided 59 minutes of exciting hockey in the race for the GNC championship.

The Eagles lead with an 11-0-1 mark (23 points), while the Red Panthers improved to 9-2-1 (19 points). The Eagles, for all intents and purposes, have the crown sewn up for the second straight year.

The game began with the Eagles flying on the fast ice, in contrast to the 'slow ice' in Wisconsin Rapids last week, where Pines struggled against the Red Panthers, winning by only a single goal.

Kali Ebert got Pines on the board first tonight. The home team won the face-off to the left of Red Panthers netminder Emily Bubla, and Ebert's shot from the slot ended in the net at 5:45, with assists to Allison Sauvola and Anna Hartwig.

Just over five minutes later, the Eagles went in on a 3-on-goalie break when the puck bounced over a Red Panthers defenseman's stick. Bubla held her ground, but the shot from Cali Sanborn trickled off the goalie's glove and into the net to make it 2-0. Lauren Czarapata and Amanda Sergent earned helpers on the odd-man rush.

The horn sounded on the 2-0 lead, as the hosts held a 10-1 shot edge.

The middle period was scoreless, as Bubla stopped a baker's dozen worth of shots, while pre-game National Anthem singer Jenna Paez made one save for the Eagles.

The guests cut the lead to 2-1 just over five minutes into the third period.

Rachel Metz battled for the puck behind the net and passed it out to the low left side to Katrina Hassig, who buried it past Paez' blocker at 5:32.

Each team had a power play chance in the middle of the period, but neither could score as the game wound down.

With just under a minute left, Bubla came off for an extra attacker and it paid off 50 seconds later when Metz gathered in a loose puck in the slot and ripped it into the net for the tying score with seven seconds left, with an assist to Bryar Brooks.

The guests held an 8-6 shot edge in the stanza.

The overtime was scoreless, with three shots on net registered in the eight minute period.

Bubla stopped 29 shots for Point-Rapids, earning a game puck from Coach Rachael Graves. Paez had nine saves for Pines in the deadlocked affair.