Zach Dyment came up big for the Trail Smoke Eaters, stopping 40 of 42 shots to help his team to a 5-2 home win over the Vernon Vipers that kept Trail’s season alive, now down 3-1 in the series.
Trail took the lead early in the first on a goal from Connor Brown-Maloski and never looked back. Brady Berger had no trouble finding the scoresheet, adding 2 goals and Brown-Maloski contributed 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist). Jimmy Lambert delivered for Vernon with 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist) and Steven Jandric chipped in with 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist).
During the first period, Santerno opened the scoring for the Smoke Eaters with a goal at 1:10 with a helper from Brown-Maloski. Berger quickly followed with a goal at 1:47 with helpers from Barker and Lucchini. Brown-Maloski followed with what turned out to be the game-winning goal at 3:34 with assists from Armour and Lucchini. Berger scored a goal at 14:09 with helpers from Chabot and Ring.
In the second, Lambert finally put the Vipers on the board with a goal at 16:29 with an assist from his linemate Jandric. Jandric quickly followed with a goal at 18:24 with a helper from Lambert.
During the third period, Armour answered for Trail with a goal at 1:02 with assists from Cochrane and Lucchini.
In Merritt, the Penticton Vees got both goals – including the OT winner – from Nic Jones in a 2-1 win over the Centennials that puts the Vees up 3-1 in the series. Jones opened the scoring at 8:47 of the first but Merritt replied with a shorthanded goal from Tyler Ward late in the second. The game remained tied until 4:25 of overtime when Jones potted the winner from Duncan Campbell. Game 5 goes Thursday at 7 p.m. in Penticton.
In Powell River, Nick Guiney’s goal 33 seconds into overtime delivered a 5-4 win for the Victoria Grizzlies over the Kings that ties the series 2-2. Kyle Betts opened the scoring early in the first for Powell River but Victoria replied with goals from Lucas Clark and TJ Friedmann on the power play to lead 2-1 after one. Guiney made it 3-1 early in the second before Carter Turnbull got one back for the Kings. Betts got his second of the game in the final frame to tie it and the Kings went ahead by one on a Cam Donaldson goal but Friedmann’s second knotted it up again 4-4 setting the stage for overtime where Guiney’s second of the night won it in the early going.
Jordan Kawaguchi scored a natural hat trick to lead the Chilliwack Chiefs to a 6-2 home win over the Wenatchee Wild that puts the Chiefs up 3-0 in the Mainland finals. After a scoreless first, Ben Fanjoy and Kohen Olischefski scored 1:14 apart in the second before Brendan Harris got the Wild on the scoreboard. Kawaguchi got his first of the night with just under four minutes left in the second and added the next two early in the third, both on the power play. Charlie Combs got one back for Wenatchee but Anthony Vincent capped the Chiefs’ scoring with an empty-net goal in the final minute. Game 4 goes Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Chilliwack.
