With one quick flick of his wrist, Blake Hall sent the Fort Erie Meteors into the win column in arguably their most important game of the season.

The 21-year-old Fort Erie native snapped a shot from the slot past goaltender Brandon Abbott 1:59 into overtime as the Meteors edged the St. Marys Lincolns 2-1 before 1,725 fans Saturday night at the Fort Erie Leisureplex.

The win evens the Meteors record at 1-1 in the Sutherland Cup round-robin series following a 6-1 loss Friday night in Listowel.

The Lincolns are 0-1 and play host to the Cyclones (1-0) Sunday night.

“It’s huge,” Hall said of the winner. “Loved to get that one for the crowd. They were going crazy all night.”

The goal came on the power play, only the fourth minor penalty called in the game.

“(Jaden) Flora gave me a nice pass in the slot and I found a way to get it upstairs,” Hall said of his winner. 

“I think we had a good all round game from start to finish, to be honest. I think we outplayed them in the second and couldn’t bury it and it was nice to finally get one.”

Meteors associate coach Anthony Passero was thrilled for the hometown hero, who spent the last two seasons in the Central Canada Hockey League.

“Definitely not surprised, no one deserves it more than him,” Passero said. “Risky move him coming back here in August in his 20-year-old year with a team that didn’t have many returners and all year he’s been getting rewarded for it. 

“Just a good guy on and off the ice and to see that puck go high and hard, we felt like his parents on the bench jumping up and down. No one deserves it more than him.”

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