Anthony Brodeur made 38 saves for the Penticton Vees as they held on for a 3-2 road win over the Wenatchee Wild.
Scott Conway opened the scoring in the first with his 44th goal of the season and after Colton Poolman made it 2-0, Austin Chavez got the Wild on the board, cutting the Vees lead in half.
Owen Sillinger restored Penticton’s two-goal advantage and chased Wild starter Chase Perry from the crease. Garrett Nieto replaced him and stopped all 10 shots he faced but after Charlie Combs’ goal to make it 3-2, Wenatchee couldn’t get anything else past Brodeur, who is now 24-0-1 on the season.
Odeen Tufto’s double-overtime goal lifted the Vernon Vipers to a 3-2 road win over the Trail Smoke Eaters, keeping the Snakes ahead of Trail for the final playoff spot in the Interior Division. Max Newton scored for Trail in the first but after Kale Howarth made it 2-0 midway through the second, Liam Finlay and Riley Brandt also scored in the middle frame to tie it. After a scoreless third and first OT session, Tufto won it at 2:57 of double-OT. Andrew Shortridge made 52 saves for the win while Bailey MacBurnie faced 52 shots for Trail.
PJ Conlon scored twice, sealing the game with an empty-net goal, to lead the Victoria Grizzlies to a 4-1 home win over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. Ross Heidt opened the scoring in the first for the visitors but it was the only puck to get past Matthew Galajda on the night as he made 37 saves for the win and 1st Star. Conlon, Mitch Barker and Brayden Gelsinger scored in the second for Victoria to put them in command.
Connor McCarthy’s goal at 12:48 of the third period ensured a single point for the Chilliwack Chiefs and overtime solved nothing as they skated to a 3-3 tie on the road against the West Kelowna Warriors. Brett Mennear’s second goal of the game, 7:24 into the third, put the Warriors ahead but a man advantage allowed McCarthy to get the equalizer. Vimal Sukumaran opened the scoring in the first and after Mennear and Kylar Hope replied in the second for the Warriors, Jordan Kawaguchi made it 2-2 going to the third.
A four-goal third period allowed the Alberni Valley Bulldogs to come back and defeat the visiting Surrey Eagles 5-2. Tyler Andrews and Chris Schutz traded tallies in the first and Paul McAvoy scored in the second to put Surrey up 2-1 heading to the third. In the final frame, Liam Conrad, Jordan Sandhu, Nathan Dingmann and Ryan Finnegan all scored with a 6:07 span to complete the comeback.
Matthew Hoover scored twice in the third period to lead the Nanaimo Clippers to a 5-2 road win over the Cowichan Valley Capitals. Charley Borek opened the scoring for the Clips but Patrick Geary tied it in the last minute of the opening frame. The second period saw no goals and after Hoover restored the Clips lead early in the final frame, Kade Kehoe scored to tie it again. But Hoover supplied the winner with Spencer Hewson and Nolan Aibel (empty net) followed up. Evan Johnson made 37 saves for the win.
