Both Hunt brothers found the back of the net while the younger Ryan grabbed the winner and the North York Rangers edged the Orangeville Flyers 4-3 in overtime on Sunday.
Ryan now has two career Ontario Junior Hockey League game winners; both are against Orangeville.
North York head coach Brent Hughes was thrilled for the rookie forward post-game.
“It’s huge for Ryan’s confidence,” he said.
“He started off the year real strong, but he’s tailed off a little bit here. That’s a big one for him and hopefully they will start coming back to him in bunches.”
Michael Morgan potted home a rebound he found at the side of the net to open the scoring 6:57 into the contest, but Colin Rigney converted a fortuitous bounce off the back wall at 13:42 of the first to even the contest.
Grayden Gottschalk, who now has goals in four straight, chipped in from four feet 53 seconds into the second, but two straight from Ethan Wiseman and Zack Vukosa gave the Flyers their only lead the game just over 20 seconds apart from the 8:14 to 8:38-marks of the middle frame.
The older Hunt, Ted, tied it up again at 11:02 of period two by skilled fully stepping out of the corner on a 5-on-3, and roofing it past Orangeville goaltender Kasimir Krol.
Ryan made it a family affair 2:46 into extra time when he received the puck on a deflected point shot by Louis Kereakou, and stuffed it past Krol on the short side.
Although the Rangers are now unbeaten in five contests, Coach Hughes still sees a lot that he wants improved.
“I was happy with our offensive zone effort, I wasn’t too happy with our commitment to the defensive zone,” he said.
“There is still a lot of work to be done. Guys have to focus on their own end before worrying about points, because when you do the right things, your chances will come. As a whole, I thought it was a good effort, a couple goals that I would have wanted back, but the way we responded to some adversity is certainly a positive.”
Veteran defenceman Tyler Currie’s two assists gave him his fifth multi-point game in six contests. Jeremy Szabo, Morgan, and Gottschalk all had two-point games as well.
The Rangers will now head on the road to take on the Buffalo Jr. Sabres Wednesday, puck drops at the Harborcenter at 7:35 p.m.
