Don't look now but the Trail Smoke Eaters have climbed into second place in the B.C. Hockey League's Interior Conference.
And the hometown Vernon Vipers had the league's hottest team in their grasp Saturday, Jan. 25, at Kal Tire Place.
The Snakes could not hold a 4-2 lead with 10 minutes left in regulation time, and fell 5-4 to the Smokies in overtime in front of 2,116 fans.
Trail (25-8-2-1, 53 points) has won nine in a row, and 10 of its last 11 games heading into a Friday tilt in Cranbrook with the Bucks on Jan. 31. The Vipers' next game is a rematch in Trail Saturday, Feb. 1, at Cominco Arena.
The Smoke Eaters are five points back of the conference leading Penticton Vees (28-6-2), and one point up on the Brooks Bandits (25-7-0-2), though the Alberta squad has two games in hand.
Trail tied and won Saturday's game in Vernon with powerplay markers.
Judah Makway got the winner for the Smoke Eaters at 1:19 of overtime on a set-up from Jason Stefanek with Vernon forward Kyren Gronick in the penalty box for holding, a penalty called at the end of regulation time.
Gronick was the OT hero for Vernon Friday with a powerplay marker in the final minute of extra time, as the Vipers rallied for a 3-2 win over the visiting Okotoks Oilers, snapping a three-game Vernon losing skid.
Christian Kim tied the game for Trail with the man advantage at 16:43, Stefanek and Lucas Lemieux drawing assists.
The Vipers took a 4-2 lead into the final minutes, rallying for an early 2-1 second-period deficit with unanswered goals from Will Schumacher, Talan Blanck, and Koji Gibson in a 10 minute 38 second span.
Lemieux and Makway had given Trail a 2-1 lead after Gibson opened the scoring for the Snakes six minutes after the national anthem.
Ryan Parker made 37 saves for the win in goal for the Smokies. Jari Kykkanen had 32 saves for Vernon, which sits in 10th place in the Interior Conference at 11-18-6-0.
The Vipers are five points behind the Oilers for the final playoff spot, and trail the ninth-place Sherwood Park Saints by three points.
Vernon plays four of its next six games against the top three teams in the Interior – Penticton, Trail, Brooks.
