The Vernon Home Building Centre Vipers skated to a 2-2 tie with the league-leading Kelowna Rockets in Tier 1 Midget action at Wesbild Centre Friday night.
The home team took an early lead when Patrick Dove scored a short-handed marker after jumping on a clearing attempt by Austin Garrington for a clear-cut breakaway.
The Rockets tied it up in the middle frame before Braydon Sophonow tipped in a powerplay marker, from Justin Mitchell and Ryan Beach, to restore the lead. Kelowna tied it with seven minutes left in the third period and the Vipers were forced to kill back-to-back Rocket powerplays to preserve the tie.
Max Brown played a strong game in the Vernon net. The 3-5-4 Vipers host OHA from Penticton at the Civic today at 4:45 p.m.
Meanwhile, Mark Francis supplied five goals and three helpers as the Nedco Titans lassoed the Corbett Office Plus Cowboys 13-3 in North Okanagan Midget Super League action Friday night at Wesbild Centre.
Francis and linemates Yanik Fillion-Murphy (2+5) and Garrett Dansereau (2+4) exploded for 21 points as the second-place Titans improved to 6-1-1.
Austin Bosquet added 2+1 for Nedco, while singles came from Josh Lerbeck and Brodie Homeniuk. D-man Max Mitchell chipped in with two helpers.
Rodger Sewell and Zoran Bos shared the netminding duties for the Titans, who got solid hustle from centre Kolton Kirschner.
Dustin Folliott (2) and Jeremy Clark countered for the 4-5-1 Cowboys, who had Yager Krenz in goal.
