Vipers Book RBC Berth:

This is in the Morning Star web site:

Vipers book RBC berth

GRANDE PRAIRIE – The Vernon Vipers might want to consider taking penalties more often. Connor Jones fired his second shorthanded goal in as many games as part of his hat-trick performance to help the Vernon Vipers sweep the Grande Prairie Storm in the Doyle Cup Pacific regional championship Wednesday night at Canada Games Arena.
The Storm didn't really have an answer for Jones, along with twin brother Kellen and Sahir Gill, who accounted for seven points in the Vipers 5-2 Game 4 win. Connor, who earned first star in three of the four games (he was second star in the other one), posted 5-5-10 in the best-of-seven.
"I've got to give all the credit to my linemates; I don't get anything with out them," grinned Connor, who opened the scoring at 5:04 with the shorty, on a turnover created by Kellen. "It was a great team effort.
"I read the play a couple times and got lucky. Kell made a nice pass on the goal today. It's lucky bounces, but I worked hard to get them."
The sweep gives the Snakes a well-deserved week's rest before they take on Canada's best at the Royal Bank Cup, hosted by the Victoria Grizzlies, May 2-10 at Bear Mountain Arena.
"It's the biggest thing I've experienced in my life," said Connor, of going to the RBC. "I can't even wait. I told all my friends I'm not coming home until I win it."
Vipers' head coach Mark Ferner was thrilled with the sweep, but was surprised by the quick series.
"We didn't expect this at all, but we certainly had tremendous efforts by our group for four games. Even when we were in Vernon, Jason (assistant coach Williamson) and I were talking if we could leave there up 2-1, that would be great.
"Even though we had a 2-0 lead and they came back and tied it, our guys didn't panic. They just continued to do the things they were asked to do.
"It's unbelievable. We've got great kids here that don't complain. And we push them. We push them hard and we identify when they need a little bit of a break. For example, we had an optional skate this morning and there were 19 players out there. That tells you a lot about your hockey team that they like to be around each other, they like to be on the ice.
"I'm a true believer that championship teams are built off the ice."
With the Storm looking out of sorts in their own end, Connor sucked the life out of the 2,314 fans when he got a stick on a Bryce Kakoske point shot midway through the first frame.
Carter Rowney had the best early chances for the Storm, going in alone and drawing a hooking penalty after he caught the Vipers flatfooted on a neutral zone turnover. Late in the period, he banged at a loose puck in front of Andrew Hammond (27 saves), but the Vernon keeper took away the net.
Sensing the demise of their season, the Storm came out desperate in the second frame, and it paid off. It took just 96 seconds for the Storm's Doug Reid to reignite the crowd, as he pounced on a rebound to Hammond's right, assisted by Brenden Turnbull and Ryan Smith.
On the very next shift, Grande Prairie forward Tanner Fritz wired a one-timer from the slot, but Hammond managed to get his blocker out to turn it aside. The Prairie boys kept coming as Blake Clement and Brooks Robinson looked primed to go in 2-on-1, but Kevin Kraus read it well to intercept the cross-ice pass.
Morgan McLean pulled GP even on powerplay as he cashed in the rebound off Clement's point shot at 7:02.
With the momentum fully in Grande Prairie's favour, Braden Pimm snatched it back with his second straight series-clinching goal midway through the second. Vipers' d-man Cameron Brodie delivered a huge hit on Dennis Rix in the corner – drawing an uproar from the crowd who thought it should have been a penalty – to turn over the puck. Chis Crowell collected it, and sprung Pimm up the left wing where he picked the top right corner with a high wrister that handcuffed netminder Chad Carder. He didn't come out in time to challenge the shot.
"It felt pretty good," grinned Pimm, a Fort St. John product. "They got those two quick ones, and I was like 'uh-oh,' but I got that lucky bounce, fired it on net and it went in. He's a small goalie, so I just threw it upstairs and got lucky and it went in.
"It felt better winning the B.C. (title), but this is just as good because we know that we're going to play the best in Canada. If we just play our game, we're pretty confident in ourselves. If everyone's going, we feel like we've got a pretty good chance.
"A little time off helps because it gets your mind off the game a little bit, and makes you want to play even more when time comes around."
McLean's season got cut short after he was tossed for beaking at the officials about some missed calls shortly after Pimm's goal. The Storm bench also earned an unsportsmanlike from referee Mark MacIsaac.
"We still feel as if we didn't get our best game played throughout the series yet, so that is disappointing," said Storm head coach Mike Vandekamp, adding a number of players were battling everything from mono to separated shoulders. "We don't have the answer yet, but we hit a wall, we were out of gas basically.
"That's normal for this time of year, but it just seemed to take its toll. Every team goes through it, but finally for us, it was our wall. It's not for lack of trying.
"They were just better than we were at this point of the series. That's disappointing to say, but it's the honest truth. They have a heckuva team on their side.
"We've started a foundation for some success here. There's quite a culture change with our team, and I'm pretty proud of where we're going with it. Our kids were extremely dedicated this year, both on and off the ice."
Regarding the Vipers, Vandekamp added: "They've got by far the best structure of any team we've played this year... a nice balance of different types of players... and by far the biggest and strongest six-man dee corps we've played against. Put it all together and I think their chances are awfully good (at RBC), and we wish them all the best."
Rather than clog up the neutral zone, the Vipers actually kept the play in Grande Prairie's zone for good chunks of the third frame.
Kevin Kraus fired a powerplay point shot which Connor collected in front of Carder. After drawing the keeper to the side, he set up Gill for the easy tap-in at 17:41.
Connor iced the game with an empty-netter with 1:18 remaining.
In a classy show of support, the Grande Prairie faithful gave the Storm one last round of "Go Storm Go" to end their season, followed by a hearty applause for the Vipers as they claimed the cup.
In other regional championship action, the Portage Terriers are one win away from the ANAVET Cup Western title thanks to a 4-1 victory Wednesday night over Humboldt Broncos. The Manitoba league champion Terriers are up 3-1 in their best-of-seven. Game 5 goes Thursday night in Humboldt.
In Ontario regional action, the Kingston Voyageurs spanked the tournament host Schreiber Diesels 9-0 in their Dudley Hewitt Cup opener Tuesday night in Northern Ontario. The Diesels responded by grounding the Soo Thunderbirds 2-0 Wednesday.
Kingston fell 1-0 to the Fort William North Stars Wednesday afternoon. The Stars stopped the Thunderbirds 2-0 in their Tuesday opener.
In the Fred Page Cup Eastern championship, the Summerside Capitals iced the Pembroke Lumber Kings 4-3 and the Dieppe Commandos shaded the Sherbrooke Cougars 2-1 Wednesday at the J. Louis Levesque Arena in Moncton.