Taylor Ward rescued a victory in overtime for the Penticton Vees after they’d surrendered a third-period lead in a 3-2 home win over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
The game was scoreless after one and in the middle frame, the Vees went up a pair with Jared Nash and Nic Jones doing the damage. It looked like that lead was safe well into the third period but Salmon Arm rallied with goals less than two minutes apart from Elijiah Barriga and Justin Wilson to draw level and force OT.
Ward redeemed the Vees just 1:31 into the first overtime session to send the fans home happy. Mat Robson stopped 25 for the win while Nic Tallarico made 20 saves for the ‘Backs.
Overtime settled nothing in Alberni Valley as the Victoria Grizzlies rallied for a 4-4 tie with the Bulldogs. Cole Pickup and Mackenzie Wright traded tallies in the first and in the middle frame, the ‘Dogs got out to a three-goal edge with Henry Marshall scoring followed by two on the power play from Trevor Cosgrove. But the Grizz got two back late in the second on markers from Nick Guiney and Nathan Looysen. Lucas Clark provided the equalizer in the third. Shawn Parkinson made 40 saves in his BCHL debut for Victoria while Brody Claeys stopped 36 for the Bulldogs.
The Vernon Vipers fired 50 shots on goal but could find the game-winner, settling for a 3-3 tie on the road against the Merritt Centennials. After a scoreless first, the Cents went up two in the second on goals by Tyrell Buckley and Cade Gleekel. Stephen Seeger made it 3-0 in the third but the Vipers came to life after that, getting goals from Niko Karamanis, Austin Adamson and Michael Ufberg to tie it. Vernon produced 10 more shots in overtime but couldn’t beat Jacob Berger a fourth time. Berger made 47 saves for Merritt while Ty Taylor made 28 stops for Vernon.
Charlie Combs scored in the first and again in the third, helping the Wenatchee Wild to a 6-2 road win over the Nanaimo Clippers. The Wild poured 63 shots on Austin Roden in the Clips’ net, including 27 in the opening frame when AJ Vanderbeck and Combs tallied to put them ahead. Matt Creamer cut into the lead early in the second but Troy Conzo and Chris Jones had replies for the Wild. David Eccles got one back for the Clippers just before the second intermission but in the third, Combs and Sam Morton finished the Wild scoring. Anthony Yamnitsky made 20 saves for the win.
A four-goal first period was more than enough for the West Kelowna Warriors in a 6-1 home win over the Powell River Kings. Braiden Epp, Jon Russell, Quin Foreman and Scott Allan tallied in the opening frame with Peter Tomaras and Logan Mostat adding to the total in the second before Hunter Findlater got the Kings on the board. Shane Farkas made 35 saves for the win.
Brett Mennear and Chong Min Lee scored twice each for the Prince George Spruce Kings in an 8-3 road win over the Coquitlam Express. Jarod Hovde and Mennear made it 2-0 after one and Ben Brar and Ethan de Jong scored for PG in the second. Lee got his first goal early in the third period before Hayden Knight got the Express on the board. Mennear would score again as did Lee with Drew Lennon providing the other PG goal. Sam Kozlowski and Luca Leone had the other Express goals. Tavin Grant made 21 saves for the win.
