The Nanaimo Clippers turned Frank Crane Arena into a shooting gallery on Thanksgiving Sunday – call it a turkey shoot.
But even a barrage of more than 60 shots wasn't enough as the Clips fell to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in double overtime, 4-3.
"We had two games' worth of shots on goal," said Mike Vandekamp, Clippers coach. "Hopefully you'd expect a little bit more results."
After Kyle Kramer scored a first-period goal and Chris Rygus added one in the second for a 2-1 lead, the visitors scored their second power-play goal of the game early in the third period. The score held until Brenden Forbes wristed a puck into the top corner with four minutes left. The Silverbacks answered right back, however, sliding a puck beyond the pad of Clips goalie Jarrod Schamerhorn with two and a half minutes to go.
The first overtime period didn't solve anything, but Salmon Arm's Alex Gillies scored his second goal of the game a minute into double OT. It earned the win for Silverbacks goalie Colin Dzijacky, who made 61 saves as his team was outshot 64-33.
"We played well, we played hard, we played really hard, actually, carried a tremendous amount of the play…" said Vandekamp. "I don't think we got outplayed or outworked, we just had a couple key moments in the game [when] we've got to kill the penalties."
GAME ON … The Clippers host the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Friday (Oct. 12) at 7 p.m. at Frank Crane Arena, then visit the Bulldogs the next night in Port Alberni. On Sunday (Oct. 14) the Clips play host to the Penticton Vees in a 3 p.m. game at Frank Crane.
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