Fred Page Cup: Game 2 Vernon @ Powell River: (Game Preview)

Vernon (9-3) @ Powell River (8-6)

The Vernon Vipers come away last night with a 4-0 victory in Game 1 of the BCHL Fred Page Cup. With the win the Vipers now take over home ice advantage in the series. You can bet Vernon will be wanting to try and go home up 2-0 in the series with a win tonight. Vernon will once again have to play a smart road game, stay out of the penalty box and try and shut down the big guns of the Powell River Kings. Powell River is going to come out strong as they don’t want to be heading to Vernon down 2-0. The Kings are going to have to try and find a way to shut down the Vipers top line of Sahir Gill, Connor Jones & Kellen Jones. The Kings will also have to try and get traffic in front of Andrew Hammond who picked up his 3rd shutout of the BCHL Playoffs last night. The first goal of the game will be key once again for both teams, along with specialty teams. The Vipers have now won 40 games, tied one, and lost one in overtime when they’ve led going into the third period this season, including all 8 games in the postseason when they’ve led after two periods. Their other playoff win came when they were tied at the end of the second. Conversely, Powell River’s record is 2 wins, 19 losses when trailing after two periods. Coming into Friday’s game, the Kings’ power play had scored 13 goals in 27 chances in the playoffs at home. That record is now 13 goals in 30 home power plays. You can listen to tonights broadcast on 107.5 Kiss FM with Todd Miller, starting at 7:15pm

Heres a look at the series:

Tonight was Game 1 of the Fred Page Cup as the Vipers defeated the Kings 4-0 in front of 1,215 fans. Sahir Gill unassisted at 7:48, Connor Jones from Kevin kraus at 10:26 & James Kerr from Cory Kane at 11:41 put Vernon up 3-0 in the 1st period. Kyle Bigos from Kevin Kraus & Mike Collins at 15:39 on the powerplay put Vernon up 4-0 in the 2nd. No scoring in the 3rd as Powell River killed off a two man advantage. Ben Schmidt & Kyle Bigos would drop the gloves in the 3rd as Schmidt would receive a match penalty. Andrew Hammond would make 23 saves for his 3rd shutout of these BCHL Playoffs. Carsen Chubak would make 28 saves in the loss for the Kings. The Vipers welcomed back Cameron Brodie and Mike Collins from injuries. Game 2 is tomorrow night.

3 Stars:

1st Star: Kyle Bigos

2nd Star: Andrew Hammond

3rd Star: Reid Campbell

http://www.bchl.bc.ca/leagues/hockey_boxScores.cfm?clientID=1413&leagueID=2393&gameID=684110

Vernons Leading Playoff Scorers:

Connor Jones 14 pts
Kellen Jones 13 pts
Sahir Gill 12 pts
Chris Crowell 10 pts
Cory Kane 10 pts
Rob Short 9 pts
Mike Collins 9 pts
Braden Pimm 8 pts
James Kerr 6 pts
Bryce Kakoske 6 pts

Andrew Hammond 9-3 Record 1.47 GAA 3 Shutouts

Powell Rivers Leading Playoff Scorers:

Darcy Oakes 23 pts
Kyle Bodie 21 pts
Clay Harvey 18 pts
Mat Bodie 13 pts
Erik Vos 12 pts
Ben Schmidt 7 pts
Jordan Grant 6 pts
Chad Niddery 6 pts
Darcy Huisman 6 pts
Neil Chambers 6 pts
Carsen Chubak 8-5 Record 2.38 GAA 2 Shutouts