Vipers Off To RBC Cup:

Vipers off to RBC Cup

by Don Klepp - Apr 23, 2009

The Vernon Vipers are on their way to the RBC Cup. The Vipers earned the Pacific berth with a 5-2 win over the Grand Prairie Storm Wednesday, sweeping the Doyle Cup final in four straight. Once again, Connor Jones was a force to be reckoned with. His short-handed goal, the second in two games, opened the scoring for the Vipers at 5:04 of the first period. He was set up in front of Chad Carder by brother Kellen who had gobbled up a loose puck deep in Storm territory. Then, Connor staked the Vipers to a two goal lead when Bryce Kakoske’s high, hard wrist shot glanced off the Viper spark plug and past a startled Chad Carder. Kakoskespark plug showed one of the reasons why the Vipers traded prospect Brett Switzer to land the home town sharp shooter. After picking up a loose puck just inside the Storm blue line, he showed great patience as he waited, then faked a shot. The fake bought him some more time and he moved in closer for the shot. On the scoring play, Kellen Jones pocketed his second assist of the period. The Vipers had only a slight advantage in shots and scoring chances in the period, as the Storm fore checked as they had in the third period of the previous night’s game. In the second, the Storm carried the play to the Vipers, especially in the first half of the period, and their hard work paid off with two goals. First, at 1:26 of the second, Doug Reid scored after Brenden Turnbull knocked the puck off Andrew Hammond’s pads. Mimicking some blustery winter weather outside the arena, the Storm continued with their onslaught and their relentless fore check eventually drew a Viper penalty. Toward the end of that penalty, a tired group of Viper penalty killers were unable to clear the zone. In one of the few effective Storm power plays in the entire series, Morgan MacLean pumped in a rebound of a Blake Clement shot at 7:02. As the period progressed, two superb saves by Andrew Hammond, one on Clement and another on Tanner Fritz kept the Storm from taking the lead. Then, just after the Storm had failed to convert a glorious chance, Braden Pimm put the Vipers ahead for good at the 11-minute mark. Chris Crowell chipped the puck out of his zone, and Pimm raced down the left wing. At the left Storm face off circle, he ripped a shot over Carder’s left shoulder, silencing the crowd of 2,314 (except for the 10 or so Viper fans in attendance.) Unaccountably, after the Storm were assessed a bench minor for dissent at 12:19, Morgan MacLean’s lack of discipline led to a misconduct and then a game misconduct, forcing coach Vandekamp to juggle his forward lines. Grande Prairie’s lack of depth compared to the deep Viper squad was thus further compromised by the veteran forward’s actions. This year, the Vipers have been unbeatable when they take a lead into the third period. In 47 regular season and playoff games, the Vipers are 45-0-1-1. They’ve won all 13 playoff games in this fashion. In Wednesday night’s third period, they allowed just seven shots and only two scoring chances while scoring twice themselves. The RBC Cup begins May 2 in Victoria.