Vernon, BC: The Vernon Vipers staged a 3rd period comeback with 3 unanswered goal in the final frame to edge the Wenatchee Wild 4-3.
The Vipers jumped out to an early lead with some simple plays as a point shot from Hunter Donohoe got through traffic, was stopped by Daniel Chenard, but JoJo Tanaka-Campbell knocked home his rebound for his 7th goal of the season. Matt Kowalski narrowly missed increasing the lead as he fired one just over the crossbar. Wenatchee tied the game of the stick of Tyler Young who drove the net and was able to bank a shot in to make the game 1-1. Shortly after that, Quinn Emerson put in a rebound off a Noah Lugli point shot to make it 2-1. The Vipers powerplay had a couple of good looks midway through the period, but couldn’t get the game even. Wenatchee had a powerplay of their own and the Vipers PK made relative ease out of it not allowing a shot. The Vipers used that for motivation and had a number of good looks in the final few minutes of the period, but Daniel Chenard was stellar making a number of saves to ensure his team went into the dressing room leading 2-1 after 1.
In the second period the Wild increased their lead early on as Nick Cafarelli sniped a shot under the bar to make it 3-1. Keegan Karki would replace Reilly Herbst in goal. Karki was solid the rest of the period stopping all shots he faced. The Vipers earned their way with hard work and generated some momentum and puck possesion. A lot of that came from a big fight between Noah Lugli and Brett Fudger. Fudger held his own in the scrap and that really seemed to spark the club. Daniel Chenard battled hard in the goal and the Wild defense did a good job of boxing out as the Vipers came close but couldn’t find the back of the net to trail 3-1 after 2.
The Vipers started the 3rd period on a powerplay and finally their hard work paid off a puck bounced off the end glass to Ben Helgeson in front of the net and he netted his 8th of the season to make it 3-2 just 45 seconds in. The Vipers evened the game up as Matt Kowalski laid up a sweet pass to Logan Cash who snapped home his 5th of the season and just 2 minutes later the game was tied 3-3. The ice continued to tilt in the Viper favour as Cam MacDonald picked the top corner on a shot from in tight to make it 4-3 midway through the period. The Vipers defended very well in the final half of the period including killing off 2 penalties. Keegan Karki was solid and the team sacrificed the body to have the lead late. With the goalie pulled, the Wild had a good look from the point, but Karki made the same and the buzzer would sound to end the game 4-3 in the Vipers favour.
The Vipers are back in action Friday night when they host the Prince George Spruce Kings.
