Vipers Beat Nanaimo In OT:

Vipers Beat Nanaimo in OT
 
Friday, November 2, 2012 - Submitted by Don Klepp

On Friday night in Vernon, the Vipers decided a seesaw battle when TJ Dumonceaux’s slap shot at 2:32 of the second overtime gave his team a 4-3 win over the Nanaimo Clippers.

Ryan Renz’s pass set up Dumonceaux on a two-on-one break at the Clipper line. “There wasn’t a passing lane available,” said Dumonceaux, “so I just dropped my head and shot it as hard as I could.” The puck flew over Jayson Argue’s left shoulder. 

“We finally got a break in OT,” said Coach Jason Williamson after the game. He was referring to two Clipper shots that hit iron during the overtime session. “But I’ve been telling the guys that the breaks will come because we’ve played pretty well in our five OT losses but had bounces go the other team’s way.”

At 4:05 of the first period, the Clippers had benefited from a fortunate bounce to open the scoring on the power play. A Colton Dahlen point shot pinballed off two defenders to an unmarked Luke Gordon at the side of Austin Smith’s crease.

Adam Tambellini notched the first of two power play goals to tie the contest at 12:43. Arriving stealthily at the back door, he converted a pinpoint Jedd Soleway feed. 

His second strike, at 2:17 of the third period, was a carbon copy of the first. Pearce Eviston drew the second assist on both goals.

Three minutes later, Greg Fraser was the recipient of some sloppy Viper clearing and he slipped the puck through Austin Smith’s pads from five feet.

The Vipers regained the lead at 15:30, courtesy of a fine individual effort by Craig Martin, who stick handled through the Clipper defence, put a shot off Argue’s shoulder, and deposited the rebound over Argue.

Once again, however, the Clippers bounced back when Josh Bryan’s point shot deflected off a Viper defender at 17:06.

That goal led to a rather loosely played pair of OT periods during which each team had four scoring chances.

Dumonceaux’s rocket of a shot was the fourth goal of his rookie BCJHL season.

Nanaimo was without power play leader David Iacono for the game, while Vernon played without Colton Sparrow and Brendan Persley (long-term injuries) and Aaron Hadley (at the Team Canada West camp.)

Braedan Russell played his first BCHL game after being injured in the first pre-season game.