Salmon Arm, BC: The Vipers had 3 different leads, but the 4th was for the victory as the Vipers downed the Salmon Arm Silverbacks 4-3 in overtime.
The Vipers opened the scoring for the 2nd straight game as Ethan Mercer scored off a one timer from the right circle. Kobe Grant was sharp in the period making a good save to keep his team up a goal. The Backs evened it up late in the period as Noah Serdachny deflected home a centering pass from the corner to make it 1-1 after 1.
In the second period special teams was the focal point and more specifically a positive as Will Arquiett sniped his first goal with his new team after a nice feed from Reagan Milburn. The Vipers PK was strong killing off both Salmon Arm powerplays. The Backs were persistent and evened the game up as Daniel Panetta scored midway through the period.
In the third, the Vipers took another lead as Kjell Kjemhus tipped home his 2nd of the exhibition schedule to make it 3-2 in the first minute. Carter Loney drew the Backs even as he squeaked a puck across the line just past the 7 minute mark. The Vipers had a some good energy and some positive shifts in the period but couldn't beat Liam Vanderkooi. Simon Tassy nearly gave his team the lead late but rang one off the goal post.
In overtime JoJo Tanaka-Campbell won it for his team with a back hand shot under the cross bar to make it 4-3.
The Vipers will welcome West Kelowna on Friday for the next set up games in the Okanagan Cup Tournament.
