Rylan Gould’s double OT winner captures Game 2 for Silvertips

Published 2:02 am Sunday, April 26, 2026

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips were 56 seconds away from securing a 4-3 win against the Penticton Vees in Game 2 of the WHL Western Conference Finals at Angel of the Winds Arena on Saturday. Except that would have been too easy.

After allowing their third extra-attacker goal in four games with less than a minute left, the Silvertips peppered Vees goalie Andrew Reyelts to no avail through the first 20-minute overtime period. If the 20-year-old was not snuffing out shots with his glove, the defenders in front of him were blocking them, or shutting down the most dangerous areas of the ice. Everett held a 17-7 shots on goal advantage entering double overtime, and the players were prepared to go all night.

“You never want to give up a goal with (56) seconds left to get into that situation,” forward Rylan Gould said. “But I mean, if you would have told our team that we had a chance to go up two (games to none) in overtime, we’d probably take it. We have full belief in what we do as a team, so we’re just kind of staying positive and refueling ourselves, because obviously when you play that long, it’s never easy on the body, but we just kind of stuck to our game.”

Not long into the second overtime, the Silvertips got the break they were looking for. A scramble around the net prompted Penticton forward Diego Johnson to fire the puck out of danger into the crowd at 5:41, forcing the otherwise lenient officials to call a delay of game penalty. Exactly 57 seconds later, Gould got his stick on the puck in front and poked it through to secure the 5-4 victory.

A WHL veteran of 336 games including the postseason, Gould had plenty of perspective about the gravity of the moment, which gave Everett a 2-0 series lead as the series shifts to Penticton.

“I’ll probably never do that again,” said Gould, who is in his last eligible season as an overage player. “… It’s done, I’m definitely not doing that again. But no, it was awesome. This group, I mean, just excitement, and I’m just so happy to be a Silvertip.”

Gould scored twice, while Julius Miettinen (three assists) and Carter Bear (one goal, two assists) each recorded three points after they were held scoreless in Game 1 on Thursday. Goaltender Anders Miller had 29 saves to improve to 10-0-1 in the postseason.

Excluding the overtime winner, Everett took three separate leads that Penticton came back to tie each time. Shots were limited for both teams entering the midpoint of the third period as each side fought to pull ahead from the 3-3 deadlock, but the Silvertips controlled most of the possession in the offensive zone. Shea Busch finally struck at 11:43, skating into the middle of the offensive zone and slipping a shot past Reyelts to give the Silvertips a 4-3 lead.

“Really good play by (Zackary Shantz) to me there (along the wall),” Busch said. “Just to score in front of this crowd, I mean, I love it so much, and hopefully I can keep doing it.”

Protecting the lead, Busch came up with a big block in front a couple minutes later, and Matias Vanhanen played strong defense off a faceoff to prevent a shot from Vees forward Jacob Kvasnicka at 14:40. Jesse Heslop had a great opportunity to grab an insurance tally at 15:45 after Shantz won the puck behind the net and set him up with an open cage in front, but a couple Penticton defenders managed to push Heslop out before he could capitalize.

Vees defenseman Ethan Weber tied it 4-4 with 56 seconds left. Tristan Petersen slipped through Shantz and Heslop to establish the zone, and a shot from Samuel Drancak made its way to Miller, who could not secure it before Weber lifted it to the top right corner.

“They have one more skater than us. They have one more stick, and that was a bounce tonight that ends up on the one guy you can’t get ahold of and they convert,” Everett coach Steve Hamilton said. “We’ve had our fair share on the other side of those as well, when our goalie’s been out. Game (1 on Thursday), we managed those situations well. When you’re in these situations against an opponent like that, it’s going to come down to a tight finish.

“You can be deflated and lose your mojo, or you can reset, and that’s we did. We had an excellent overtime. You take a gut punch, but you straighten up and we played very well.”

Everett had plenty of opportunities to end the game in the first overtime. Busch nearly jammed in a puck that came loose in front of the left post, but Reyelts squeezed his feet around it while flat on his stomach to keep the game alive at 6:58. Rhys Jamieson’s forechecking led to a Lukas Kaplan takeaway in the offensive zone, but the ensuing shot went into the side netting.

Jaxsin Vaughan fired a shot off the post at 16:45, and Kvasnicka nearly scored at the other end with a backhand 15 seconds later, but it managed to stay out.

The Silvertips outshot the Vees 24-5 across both overtime periods. It was just a matter of time before they broke through.

“Just having a goldfish mentality,” Busch said about the team stacking near-misses. “Flush your shift after, got the next one coming up, right? So just knowing it’s going to come for our group if we keep doing things right.”

Long before Gould ended the game in double overtime, Brady Birnie gave Penticton a 1-0 lead just 2:20 into the game, banking a shot off Miller’s back from behind the goal line. Jaxsin Vaughan batted the puck out of the air from the crease, but it had already crossed the goal line. It was the first time Everett trailed in regulation since Game 4 of the first round against Portland on April 1, when the Winterhawks led 2-0 early in the second before the Silvertips scored six straight goals in a 6-3 win.

Everett did not trail for long. The Silvertips’ top line of Vanhanen, Miettinen and Bear connected for the tying goal at 3:16. Vanhanen sent a backhand pass into Miettinen in front of the left post, and Miettinen went across the crease with his backhand to Bear for a right post tap-in.

The Vees received their lone power-play opportunity when Jaxon Pisani got called for roughing at 15:09, and Miller held up with a trio of big saves, culminating with a stop on Ryden Evers with plenty of space in the slot at 17:05. The Silvertips took their first lead at 18:25 after Bear forced his way into the offensive zone and dropped a pass back for Vanhanen, who rebounded his own shot from the left side to make it 2-1.

Penticton came out firing in the second period. Brek Liske and Pisani each made key blocks in the opening six minutes of the frame, but the Vees finally knotted it up 2-2 by capitalizing on a Kayd Ruedig turnover in the neutral zone. Johnson broke into space off a pass from Brittan Alstead and beat Miller with a wrister at 7:17.

Everett responded as it tends to do, rolling the lines out in waves and applying a heavy forecheck to create more chances. Landon DuPont narrowly missed on a wraparound around 12:00, and Reyelts made a handful of big saves to keep it level, but the Silvertips were gaining momentum.

Vaughan delivered a hit on Louis Wehmann that drew a pop from the crowd, then drew a tripping penalty in the defensive zone to put Everett on the power play at 14:20, which led to Gould’s power-play goal at 15:51. Gathering the puck at the left point, DuPont fired on net through traffic, and Gould redirected it in to put the Silvertips up 3-2.

“He brings us energy on every aspect of the ice,” Gould said of Vaughan. “For him to continue to play the way that he does, it opens up space for everybody and it creates chances like that, so I mean, we couldn’t be prouder of him, and I think when we all do that, that’s when we’re at our best. So just kind of playing hard, and he definitely sets the standard for that.”

Everett started out strong in the third, but the Vees took advantage of a fortunate bounce off the boards in the neutral zone that went right to Birnie in front of the Silvertips blue line. Pisani slipped while retreating, and Birnie had enough space to beat Miller high to tie it 3-3 at 2:32.

“I would have liked to see us not turn the puck over like we were getting paid by each individual one,” Hamilton said with a wink. “Because there was a lot, and we didn’t manage the puck very well. I thought (Penticton) played their identity when we probably missed opportunities to play to ours.”

Everett ultimately survived those mistakes and will look to punch its ticket to the WHL Championship during Games 3 and 4 in Penticton on Monday and Tuesday.