The Estevan Power Dodge peewee A Vipers advanced to the Saskatchewan Hockey Association provincial playoff final against the Saskatoon Comets, after outscoring Weyburn 6-5 in the two-game, total-goals series.
Entering Game 2 of the series on March.1, Estevan had a 4-2 lead, and despite losing 3-2 that gave them enough goals to take the series.
It was a thrilling finish as the Vipers won the series in double overtime.
Weyburn took an early lead in the first and were up 2-0 after the period, head coach Chad Farr said that his team was sluggish to start the game.
In the second, Estevan fought their way back into the game after Kenzie Balon scored to make it 2-1. Karliegh McKenzie and Kayla Wanner contributed with the assists. But later on in the period Weyburn added to their lead to go up 3-1.
Both teams were held scoreless in the final period of regulation, and had to go into a 10 minute overtime period because the series was tied at five goals.
“We started playing better hockey in the last 10 minutes of the third, and we dominated the overtime,” Farr said.
Neither team scored, so they had to play another 20-minute period.
Nineteen seconds into the second overtime, Marci LeBlanc netted the game winner with help from Jaycee McLellen and Taylor Haux.
Going into the second overtime Farr told his team to continue to play hard.
“We just wanted to keep the kids positive and motivated and make sure they were focused and knew the task at hand,” he said.
For the provincial final against Saskatoon, Farr said his team has to continue to play the game shift-by-shift, period-by-period.
Before the provincial final, the Vipers play two league playoff games in Regina on March 7 and 8.
