Vipers tie it late but fall in OT to Backs

From a fans perspective this was a fantastic game to watch.  As a coach, its the type of game that gives them grey hair.  A late comeback, a missed penalty shot, and a breakway goal against saw the Vipers get a point, but ultimately lose 6-5 in double OT.

Following Friday's loss, there were lots of improvements that needed to be made coming into the rematch last night.  Those improvements were prevalent early as the Vipers were skating and passing like the team that put up 7 goals against Surrey the week before.  Jason Bird would open the scoring with a rocket of a slap shot beating Angus Redmond.  The Backs would tie it late with a Jeff Kennedy tip in goal and after 1 it was tied at 1.

Vernon would go on to ultimately dominate the second period of time getting goals from Mark Hamilton and Craig Martin all before the midway mark.  But as was the case all night, the Backs refused to go away and Thomas Plese would score in the final 5 minutes of the period, which was important as they were down 3-2 after 2.

Then cue the real excitement.  Salmon Arm tied the game early as Harlan Orr would score in the first minute.  Alex Gillies would get his first of 3 to give the Backs their first lead of the game and it looked like the Backs had everything going their way.  But the lead was short lived as Dexter Dancs would knock home his 3rd of the season 18 seconds later to get the game tied up once again.  Both teams played rather conservative late with the anticipation of OT.  One costly Viper mistake however, put them down by a goal as Gillies would snap home his 2nd of the game with less than 3 minutes to go.   Vernon to their credit refused to go away and with just 18 seconds left Mason Blacklock would get his first goal of the season at a crucial time to send the game to OT.

Nothing really happened in the first OT, so lets skip to the second.  Demico Hannoun would get a Penalty Shot 18 seconds in, but was stopped by Redmond.  That truly was the turning point as Alex Gillies would break away a minute later and end the game by beating Austin Smith for his hat trick goal.

My 3 Key Thoughts

1) No doubt about it, this game was extremely exciting and emotional for everyone involved.  Entertainment value was high and the 1,725 fans in attendance were spoiled.

2) Credit to the Vipers for scrounging out at least one point.  They have points in 3 of 4 games and any early points you can get could go a long way later in the season.

3) How good is Alex Gillies right now.  He has 7 goals in just 4 games and has single handedly taken games over when the Backs needed it the most.

No time to dwell on this one if you're Vernon.  As their next game will be Tuesday in West Kelowna to face a Warriors team who took 4 points from the Centennials over the weekend.  If you can't make the trip to West K you will be able to catch all the action on Village Green Hotel Vipers Hockey on 1075 KISSFM starting with the pre game show starting at 6:45!