It took just 26 seconds of overtime for Michael Young to come up with the OT winner on a point shot that bounced past Cal Sandquist, giving the Vernon Vipers a 4-3 road win over the Wenatchee Wild that puts Vernon up 1-0 in the series.
Vernon built a 3-0 lead on goals by Young and Lane Zablocki in the first, which chased Wild starter Austin Park in favour of Sandquist. Josh Latta added the third Vipers goal in early in the second but it was soon after that that the Wild rallied. PJ Fletcher got Wenatchee on the board at 5:45 of the second and he added another shortly after to get his side within one heading to the third.
In the final frame, it was Brian Adams the scored the equalizer which set the stage for overtime. The ice was barely dry in OT when Young let a shot go from the point that deflected off a skate and past Sanquist for the winner. Game 2 of the series goes Sunday at 7:05 in Wenatchee.
For the second night in a row, the Prince George Spruce Kings used a 4-2 score to down the visiting Victoria Grizzlies as PG took a 2-0 series lead. It was Victoria that opened the scoring on this night though, as Riley Hughes tallied the only marker of the first period which was on the power play. In the second, hometown boy Corey Cunningham evened the score at 2:10 and Nick Bochen put PG ahead with a power-play tally of his own. Cam Thompson replied for the Grizzlies to tie the score once again but it was Cunningham’s second of the period that put the home side up one going to the third. In the final frame, the only goal came off the stick of Dustin Manz who capitalized on a neutral zone turnover and raced in on goal to beat Kurtis Chapman high to the glove side. Game 3 of the series will be in Victoria, a 7 p.m. faceoff on Monday, April 1.
