Vernon, BC: Jojo Tanaka-Campbell scored early in the first and Reilly Herbst was stellar stopping 42 of 44, but it was the Vees that came out with a 2-1 win in OT.
The Vipers jumped out to an early shot advantage and an early lead as JoJo Tanaka-Campbell sniped his 5th of the season by the blocker of Yaniv Perets to make it 1-0. The Vees would then put 9 consecutive shots towards the Viper goal and Reilly Herbst was able to turn them all away. The Vipers would weather the storm through the first 20 and lead 1-0 despite being outshot 17-4.
In the second the Vipers PK and goaltender were the story as they killed off consecutive Penticton powerplays. The Vees had trouble generating much while on the man advantage as Herbst made some saves and the PK utilized some active sticks and tenacious forechecks to kill them off. The Vipers had some chances of their own, but Yaniv Perets was solid in the Vees goal crease. The period would end as it began with the Vipers leading 1-0.
The Vees were able to tie the game up around the 6 minute mark of the third as a point shot was stopped, but David Silye poked home the rebound making it 1-1. The Vipers nearly took the lead back minutes later as Connor Marritt missed the net high, but the puck bounced off the glass and popped right into the back of Perets jersey and stayed out. Neither team was overly aggressive in the final few minutes as both teams would earn a valuable point after 60 minutes.
In the third, the Vipers nearly ended it early, but Perets made the save and no Viper could find the rebound. Jay O’Brien set up Nico Somerville for the game winning 67 seconds into OT to give the Vees the 2-1 win.
The Vipers will travel to Trail on Friday to take on the Smoke Eaters for the 5th of 6 meetings.
