The Kamloops Storm have lived to play another game, but the junior B hockey club has a long road ahead if it wants to advance to the second round of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoffs.
Down 3-0 to Revelstoke in the best-of-seven series, the Storm hosted the Grizzlies at Memorial Arena on Tuesday night and, in a contest made for night owls, the home team prevailed 2-1 in triple overtime.
Jayden Castle’s goal one minute into the third extra 10-minute frame ensured the two clubs would be driving east on Highway 1, with Game 5 set for Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Revelstoke Forum.
In Game 4, Kamloops opened the scoring in the second period with a goal by Chris Thom. Grizzly Matt Caden tied the contest in the third period.
Both goaltenders were extremely busy in their 91 minutes in net, with Kamloops’ Jordan Wilde stopping 66 of 67 shots and Revelstoke’s Giovanni Sambrielaz turning aside 59 of 61 shots.
Both netminders have been stellar in the series, with Wilde stopped 158 of 168 shots faced and Sambrielaz saving 152 of 162 shots aimed at him.
Although Revelstoke has a commanding 3-1 series lead, three of the four games have gone to overtime, with the Grizzlies winning Game 1 in overtime (4-3), Game 2 in double overtime (3-2) and Game 3 in regulation (7-3).
• In the other Doug Birks Division series, the 100 Mile House Wranglers defeated the Chase Heat 6-3 on Tuesday to sweep the best-of-seven series in four games. The Wranglers will play the winner of the Kamloops-Revelstoke series in the next round of the playoffs.
In the Okanagan Division, Osoyoos eliminated Princeton in four straight games, while Kelowna has a 3-1 series lead over Summerland.
In the Kootenay Conference, Beaver Valley and Castlegar are tied 2-2, while Kimberley leads Fernie 3-1, Columbia Valley leads Creston Valley 3-1 and Nelson leads Grand Forks 3-1.
The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League is separated into two conferences, with each conference housing two divisions of five teams each. The two conferences do not play an interlocking schedule, meaning the only time the Kootenay Conference plays the Okanagan-Shuswap Conference is in the league final.
The top four teams in each division make the playoffs, with first playing fourth and second facing third. In the Doug Birks Division of the Okanagan-Shuswap Conference, Revelstoke topped the standings with 73 points, followed by Chase at 54, 100 Mile House at 53 and Kamloops at 41.
During the regular season, Kamloops was 1-6-1 against Revelstoke.
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