Last-Minute Antics Taint Vipers' Win:

This was on todays Morning Star web site:

Last-minute antics taint Vipers' win

It was a celebration turned ugly for the Vernon Vipers in Game 2 of the Doyle Cup regional championship Saturday night at a sold out Civic Arena.
With 26 seconds separating the Snakes from a well-earned 6-2 victory over the Grande Prairie Storm in their best-of-seven series, tempers skyrocketed as Storm enforcer Elias Grossmann caught Vipers’ forward Bryce Kakoske with an elbow into the boards, starting a melee.
Grossmann lost his cool trying to pick a fight with the other Vipers on the ice, who, realizing Hockey Canada’s one-fight rule was in effect (meaning they’d miss the next game), declined.
Instead, Grossmann had to be restrained by linesman Brandon Liefke, who ended up getting manhandled, and actually wrestled with the enraged forward on the ice at one point.
As Grossmann was being forcibly escorted off the ice by Liefke, he spat in the linesman’s face. Referee Andrew Guest handed the former Penticton Vee a match penalty.
Also in the skirmish, the Storm’s Josh Juell earned a double-match for slashing Cole Ikkala and spearing Kevin Kraus, who earned a double-minor for spearing.
After the game, Storm head coach Mike Vandekamp refused to comment about the altercations.
Vipers’ head coach Mark Ferner says it was an unfortunate situation to have happen in such an important series.
“Certainly you’re going to have altercations because things happen during the game, but certainly the fans... don’t like to see anything like that.
“We know Grossmann from Penticton. He’s a tough kid, no question about it, but obviously he didn’t play like that in Penticton and had a little bit more control.
“I’m sure they were a bit frustrated, and they wanted to get their frustrations out, but with those situations nothing good is going to come of it.
“We don’t want to get involved with stuff like that, and the other thing is the linesmen are out there trying to do a job and to see that happen to them is uncalled for.”
Rather than get caught up in the moment, the Vipers have shown measured restraint in the series so far, and as Ferner points out, it’s for good reason.
“We’re playing for the Doyle Cup championship. I know they’re kids and the testosterone gets flying a little bit, but we just need to be focused on what the job is at hand.”
When it came to scoring, it was the Vipers’ line of Connor and Kellen Jones and Sahir Gill that did most of the damage.
Gill fired a goal and two assists, Connor posted three helpers and Kellen added a single off a nice redirect at the side of the net.
“The team is playing a certain way right now, and everyone is buying in, so we just have to keep playing the same way,” said Connor. “They’re getting frustrated, so if we stick to our game play, it should work out.”
Grande Prairie’s Bobby Tyson opened the scoring at 5:09 of the first period. Vernon product Jordon Harrison fed Tyson at the point, where he floated a shot through traffic to beat netminder Andrew Hammond (21 saves).
After that, Vernon fired five unanswered goals, including twice on the powerplay, to take control. Netminder Matt Milne was pulled in favour of Chad Carder after the first period. Milne allowed three goals on 11 shots while Carder made 23 stops in relief.
Vipers’ d-man Cameron Brodie pocketed the winner with a point shot late in the first frame.
“Especially in a rink like this... every shot is a good shot,” said Brodie, who grew up in Vernon before moving to the coast in Grade 6. “Once you get it in the zone, just take a shot and there’s going to be rebounds ready for us.
“Their goaltenders didn’t really handle the rebounds too well, so we were getting a lot of second and third shots on them.”
Chris Crowell, on a slick cross-ice feed from Braden Pimm, Bryce Kakoske, on a loose rebound, and Rob Short, with an empty-netter, were Vernon’s other scorers.
Doug Reid supplied the Storm’s other goal late in the third period.
With the two-game sweep, the Vipers have forced the series back to Grande Prairie for Game 3 Tuesday night, followed by Game 4 Wednesday.
If necessary, Games 5, 6 and 7 will go Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively in Alberta.
The winner advances to the Royal Bank Cup, May 2-10 in Victoria.
“We’re going up there for five (games) now, and the disappointing thing for me is we’re not going to have last change... for five games,” said Ferner. “We’re thrilled we’re going there 2-0, but we’ve got a lot of hockey left and we know they’re a good team. It’s only going to get tougher from here on in.”