Game 3 – Saturday April 1st, 7:30 – Credit Union Centre, Kensington

The Kensington Moase Plumbing and Heating Vipers defeated the Sherwood A & S Scrap Metal Metros 2:36 into the second overtime period to take a 2-1 lead in the Island Junior Hockey League best of 7 Finals. 

The Vipers opened the scoring 4:51 into the first period on a one-time slap shot by Ethan Beaulieu from a feed from Nick Reeves and Reese Wyand.  The Metros would answer with a goal of their own just 1:45 later on a goal from AP player Evan Andrews.  Assists went to Kal White and Seth MacLeod.  Both teams exchanged several quality chances, however, the Metros squandered 3 power play opportunities that could have given them control of the game.  Shots on goal after the first period were 12-11 in favor of the Vipers.  The Vipers came out ready to take control of the series and hopefully retain home ice advantage.  They out shot the Metros 12 -7, and out-scored the Metros 2-0 in the second period.  Reese Wyand would score just 2:07 into the second with assists going to Nick Reeves and Ethan Beaulieu. With 11:45 left in the second period, the Vipers would add to their lead on a goal by William Smith with an assist to Vipers’ goaltender Noah Visser.  The Vipers would take a 3-1 lead into the third and looked to be in full control.  The Metros, however, would have something to say about that as they came out playing hard and the hard work paid off early as Josh Lund scored 1:34 into the 3^rd period with John MacKinnon and Jaden Murphy getting assists.  Just 3:42 later, Ben Watts would release a hard snap shot from the slot to tie the game at 3, with an assist going to Matt MacQuaid.  The third period would end in a 3 – 3 tie, sending the game into overtime.  The metros outshot the Vipers 8-7 in the 3^rd period.  In the first overtime period, which was 10 minutes in length, the Vipers would outshoot the Metros 8-7, but nothing was decided as they went to the dressing room to allow for a resurfacing of the ice before starting another overtime period.  In the second overtime, play was end to end to start, however, the Metros would take a too many men on the ice penalty just 2:14 into the period.  The Vipers’ coaching staff called a time-out and drew up the right play that resulted in another one-time slap shot from Beaulieu to end the game.  Vipers assists on the winning goal were Carson MacKay and Reese Wyand.

Game 4 of the series goes Sunday afternoon at 3:45 at Cody Banks Arena.