The Westport Rideaus ended their four-game losing streak by defeating the shorthanded Brockville Tikis 7-6 in overtime on Friday night. Brockville were missing 4 forwards for the game and moved Doug Utting up from his defence postion in order to go with 3 lines.

The win moves the Rideaus into a tie with the Athens Aeros for top spot in the division.

Westport's Scott Johnstone scored the game-winning goal with just 53 seconds  into the five-minute overtime.

The Tikis led 2-1 after the first period and 4-2 at the end of 40 minutes of play.

In the third period, the Rideaus used goals by Cameron McNutt, Nik Terpak and Kurt Thompson to take a 5-4 lead by the midway point.

Ethan Robert brought the Tikis back into a 5-5 tie at 11:15.

Grant Burke then sent the Rideaus into the 6-5 advantage at 13:32.

The Tikis forced overtime with Steve Allan's goal at the 16:28 mark against his former team.

Thompson and Burke each had two goals for Westport. Anthony Babic and Dustin Sinclair each picked up three assists.

The Rideaus scored three times on the powerplay and twice shorthanded.

Shane Melcher had three goals and one assist to pace the Tikis. Doug Utting had the other goal for Brockville.

Ethan Robert had three assists. Robert Rice and Jordan Moran had two assists each for the Tikis, who scored four times on the powerplay.

Ethan Wright was in net for the Tikis and Christian Mastromattei fro the Rideaus.

Brockville's next game is on Wednesday at the Memorial Center versus the Gananoque Islanders. Game time is 7:45 PM.