Nearly five hours after the Vernon Vipers and Penticton Vees faced off in Game 5 of their Interior Conference Finals series at the Wesbild Centre, Denver Manderson sent the visitors home happy with a triple overtime game that extends the match-up of No. 1 and 2 seeds for at least another game.
Dylan Walchuck opened the scoring at the 5:33 mark of the first period, and Vernon doubled their lead late in the second on a Cole Ikkala effort. Vernon seemed to have the game well under control after 40 minutes, as they had outshot the Vees by margins of 12-7 and 13-3 in the first and second periods respectively.
But Penticton got the early goal they needed in the final frame of regulation when Beau Bennett converted a feed from Manderson, and the visitors pulled even with under five minutes remaining in the third when Garrett Milan notched a season-saving goal.
Both teams enjoyed their fair share of scoring chances through nearly 50 minutes of overtime, but the Vees' captain finally broke the deadlock at the 7:14 mark of the third extra frame. Milan posted the lone assist on the game winner.
Should Penticton be able to complete a series comeback over the defending Fred Page Cup champs, the turning point will no doubt have been the play of Bonar following Ikkala's goal late in the second period. From that point on, the 2010 NHL Draft prospect stopped 38 consecutive shots to give his team the opportunity to take the game. In the Vernon goal, Graeme Gordon took the loss but stopped 44 shots on the night, including 26 in overtime.
The series now shifts back to Penticton for another potential elimination game on Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Faceoff is set for 7:05 PM.
