The Squirrels barely survived a late game flurry Tuesday, getting lucky that one extra second wasn’t on the clock, as they managed a 4-3 win that wasn’t as close as the final score seemed.

Hockey Donkeys got on the board in the first period, but a 5-on-3 power play early in the second helped net them two goals in the first three minutes. Tony Richelsen scored the first from the blue line, then Ben Sumner smacked in a rebound after Vivek Pinto’s shot. Shortly after, Rob Meyers scored, then Jon Danziger roofed a shot as the Squirrels went up 4-1 going into the third.

The Squirrels played fine in the third period, keeping the puck and developing several chances. But Hockey Donkeys found the net about midway through, killed a penalty, then had a mad scramble in the closing minutes. They scored again with 42 second remaining, and got a shot away at the buzzer which hit the goalie and went in. But it was too late, and the Squirrels came away with the victory in the regular season finally.

Brent Machado led the Squirrels in scoring with 20 points, including a league-leading 14 assists, while Danziger led the team in goals with 11. The Squirrels finished in fourth place, though several of the losses came early against the higher division.

In their first game after being moved down to Bronze 2B, against an undefeated team that was moved up from Bronze 3, the Squirrels seized the moment, piling up goals en route to an 8-5 win against Hockey Donkeys.

The teams kept it close through the first half of the game, but after it was tied 3-3, the Squirrels pulled away with two late second period goals and three more in the third.

Vivek Pinto had a hat trick, Brent Machado and Tony Richelsen each had two, and Tero Moberg had another.