The game was fairly even through the early stages of the first, but the Storm started to put pressure on the Bombers in their zone as the period reached a midway point. The Bombers held on, and Callum Tung was sharp to keep it scoreless. The Bombers responded, and took their first lead of the series as Jaydon Merritt forced a turnover to the slot that Justin Osborne picked off and buried from in tight on his backhand, high over the blocker of Nick Peters to make it 1-0 at 12:26 of the first.
The Storm tied it up just 30 seconds into period two, as Callum Tung had a dump in hop over his stick and he couldn’t recover in time as Carter De Boer put it on the tape of Mitchell Finner one-timed it upstairs to make it 1-1. The Bombers responded, as Evan Vararhely made a beautiful move around a defender before picking the top corner far side over the blocker of Peters to put the Bombers ahead 2-1 at 2:55, with Robbie Steel drawing the lone assist. The Bombers built their lead to 3-1 at 8:01 of the period on the power play as Jaydon Merritt refused to give up on a battle and stole the puck off a defender before walking in through the right circle where he snapped a perfectly placed shot high over the glove of Peters. Assisting on the play were Taylor Madsen and Grayson Erickson. The Storm again pressured through the remainder of the period, and had a handful of great chances to get back in it, but Callum Tung was fantastic to protect the lead.
The Storm came out and started the third similar to the way they started the second, as they made it a one-goal game at 1:23 as Kye Benoche went upstairs short-side through a defender as a screen from the bottom of the circle over the shoulder of Tung to make it 3-2, with Nolan Corrado and Kal Nagy assisting. The Storm kept pressing, and the Bombers couldn’t turn the tide before it was a 3-3 game as Carter De Boer scored on a deflection at the front of the net, with assists to Ryler Bergman and Cody Savey at 8:46 of the third. There would be no scoring through the remainder of the third, as for the third time in four games in the series, overtime was needed.
It didn’t take long in sudden death, as Evan Vasarhely found a loose puck at the left point from Robbie Steel that he simply threw at the net. It would find it’s way through the legs of Peters, to set off a wild celebration as the Bombers evened the series at 2-2 at 2:28 of overtime.
Shots were 68-19 Storm, with Callum Tung earning 1st star honours with the win while Nick Peters took the loss. The Bombers went 1 for 2 on the power play while the Storm went 0 for 1.
Game five goes Friday night in Campbell River.
Vasarhely scores twice, Bombers top Storm 4-3 in overtime to even series
