Bucky Benders Sneak Past Sigma Ligma in OT Thriller

Thursday night, the Bucky Benders opened their season by delivering a game that will be talked about long after the ice melts. In a back-and-forth battle against Sigma Ligma, the Benders clawed, stumbled, and somehow soared to a 9–8 overtime victory, setting the tone for what looks like a wild year ahead.

Making his debut in goal was rookie Luke Rosner, famously taking the ice with the number -1 on his back. The nerves didn’t show early, as he turned aside seven of eight first-period shots to give the Benders a 3–1 cushion. “After letting the first one in, I'll admit I was feeling nervous. But the team picked me up right away and after that I felt locked in,” Rosner said after the game.

Sigma Ligma roared back in the second, led by their elusive forward known only as “Orange.” With highlight-reel stickhandling and a power-play tally sparked by a Benders penalty, Sigma flipped the script, sending the Benders into the third period trailing 6–4.

That’s when things unraveled… in the strangest way possible. The Benders battled back to tie it 7–7, but with the game hanging on a knife’s edge, an unthinkable miscue struck. Captain Marco Salomone corralled the puck in front of his own crease, only for it to slither up his stick blade like a cartoon gag and slip directly over Rosner’s outstretched pad—an accidental own goal that gifted Sigma an 8–7 lead.

“I… I don’t even know how to explain it,” Salomone said, shaking his head postgame. “The puck just betrayed me. Poor Luke—I handed that one straight in. I thought I’d never live it down.”

But hockey is a game of redemption. With under a minute left, Rosner sprinted for the bench—faceplanting through the gate in full sight of both teams—and the Benders threw everything at the net with 5 attackers. Carson Phillips became the hero of regulation, stuffing home the tying goal with exactly 30 seconds left on the clock.

Sudden-death overtime was all Benders. Still, hearts stopped when Orange slipped free for one last breakaway, rifling a low glove shot that looked destined to end Rosner’s debut in heartbreak. Instead, fate intervened: the puck trickled past his pad but clung to his skate blade, frozen in place inches short of the line. “I didn’t even know it wasn’t in until I heard Orange defeatedly say 'Nice save keep',” Rosner admitted. “I’ll take lucky over good any night.”

Moments later, Mars Qiu sealed history, ripping home the game-winner to complete the improbable 9–8 comeback. As the Benders flooded the ice in celebration, a grinning Salomone put things best: “I almost lost this one for us. But the boys had my back. That’s Bender hockey right there—chaotic, ridiculous, and somehow it works.”