Vipers Smother Kings For Title:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Vipers smother Kings for title

By Kevin Mitchell - Vernon Morning Star

Twins Connor and Kellen Jones sat on the boards by the Vernon Viper bench, in full equipment, taking turns on a family cell phone call Sunday night. Defenceman Cameron Brodie sat on the team bench, also on his cell.
They surveyed the empty Wesbild Centre, where about 40 minutes earlier, the Vipers had clipped the Powell River Kings 2-1 to claim their first B.C. Hockey League Fred Page Cup since 2003, in six games.
“I can’t even describe the feeling,” said Kellen, who two seasons ago was a 16-year-old rookie who helped the Vipers upset the Penticton Vees before falling to the Nanaimo Clippers in the championship series.
“From the time when we were here and lost, and now that we’ve won, it’s just a great feeling. It just feels unreal. Words don’t even describe it.”
Kellen, Connor and linemate Sahir Gill cycled like they were preparing for the Tour de France all series long, racking up 16 points against the Kings. Kellen figures the title will only strengthen the Vipers’ pysche as they ready for the Doyle Cup regional series against the Grande Prairie Storm (Game 1 Friday, Civic Arena).
“I think this just brings everyone closer together. I think we know we can go further and hopefully we get that national championship because that’s what we want.”
All-star goalie Andrew Hammond stopped 15 shots and the Vipers’ smothering defensive style did the rest as Vernon made it an Easter Sunday to remember before 2,369 fans.
“This is the best time in my hockey career for sure,” beamed Viper captain and fourth-year winger Chris Crowell, who tossed some heavy hits in Game 6. “I got here once and lost and I wasn’t going to lose again. Just 23 warriors out there and it took everyone to win it, and we knew that going into it, and everybody chipped in where they could, and it was awesome. There was no way we were getting on that bus again.”
Hammond, who made a handful of solid saves, now sports an all-planet save percentage of 94.6 and a 1.50 GAA. He stopped a hard ErikVos slapper and then shut the door on rebound hound Chad Niddery in tight late in the second period, for his toughest saves.
“I guess the eight months of just killing yourself everyday is definitely worth it,” said Hammond. “Sacrifices everyone made is amazing and so far it’s paid off. We still have one more goal in mind, and we’ll celebrate tonight, and come to work on Tuesday.”
Defenceman Adam Thompson gave the Vipers a 1-0 lead at 15:08 of the first period when he banged in a rebound in front of Powell River all-star net detective Carsen Chubak. Kory Kane and Mike Collins drew assists.
The Snakes made it 2-0 just six minutes into the second period when penalty-killing magician Braden Pimm went in alone and deked Chubak. Blueliner Cameron Brodie had chipped the puck off the glass and Pimm wheeled in behind the Kings’ powerplay defence for a clear break.
“I saw it just bouncing,” said Pimm. “I kind of cheated a little, got behind the d-man. Chubak’s stoned me on so many breakaways and I finally got one on him. It was a good time to score one.”
Powell River, who had just four shots at the midway point, showed some desperate hockey in the final half. Drew Pettitt buried a rebound past Hammond after Neil Chambers had wired a high shot from the right wall with 5:27 left in the second period.
“Give full marks to Powell River,” said Vernon head coach/GM Mark Ferner. “They didn’t go away. It came right down to the final buzzer. I’m just so proud of our group here. It’s never easy to win and if it was, everybody would do it. They put in tons of hard work, not only on the ice, but off the ice.
“One thing with this group is they enjoy being around each other and that’s kind of special. Once you get that way, they play for each another, they trust in each other and are well deserving to be holding this Cup.”
Chubak, who was easily the Kings’ MVP in the championship series, was pretty composed in a teary-eyed dressing room.
“We’re pretty proud,” said the classy Prince Albert product, who has one year left in the BCHL. “We battled hard all year and met a good team there and I felt it could have went either way. There’s maybe a tiny bit of satisfaction losing to a team that deserves to win it as much as we do.
“It’s a bad feeling right now, but you’re not going to look back on it as a bad thing. It’s something to remember and it’s going to be a moment in your life you’re not going to forget and it’s probably going to be one of the more positive moments in your life.”
Ironically, Chubak played Midget AAA for Prince Albert when they won the Telus Cup as national champions.
“I played against Pimm and (Kyle) Bigos (Notre Dame) in the provincials and we beat them in the fifth game in overtime. I told them they got me back pretty good so hopefully we’ll have a round three.”
Powell River head coach/GM Kent Lewis, whose franchise has never won the league title, addressed the Kings behind closed doors for 20 minutes after the loss.
“I just told them 30 minutes hockey isn’t going to get us a Fred Page Cup. They do a great job blocking shots and we didn’t do a good job finding ways to get shots through and couldn’t find a way to get it done. At the end of the day, they did a very good job and were deserving. We had a good year.”
Gill, a 16-year-old rookie who won the lottery a few months ago by landing on the Jones line, led the Vipers with four goals in the Cup series.
“It was great,” said Gill, of playing with the Kootenay kids. “Coming into the last stretch of the season, we started playing with each other and then hit our stride in the playoffs. We had a great team effort and you can’t ask for anything but this. It’s a lot of fun. The three of us kind of play similar so it’s great.” Sahir Gill.
On the Kings, who got just one assist from league scoring champion Darcy Oakes, Gill said: “They’re great. They worked hard all the way until the end. We were up 2-0 in their barn and they battled back and pushed it to Game 6. You gotta give them credit; they worked hard.”
Powell River captain Mark McKamey was hardly content with turning what looked like a possible Viper sweep into an exciting series.
“It’s tough to look at it positively right now,” said McKamey. “I’m sure we’ll look back on an exciting season, but it’s tough. You just gotta bite your lip right now because we believed we could win it and we just fell short. Today, we didn’t play half a game and I’m not sure why that was. We didn’t come out ready and that’s going to haunt me for a while. Today just wasn’t our day.”
McKamey praised the Vipers for being worthy champions.
“They’re a really solid group. They’re disciplined and congratulations to them. They worked hard and they earned it, and we didn’t earn it today.”