Vipers' Bite Proves Lethal For Broncos:

This is in the Victoria Times Colonist:

Vipers' bite proves lethal for Broncos

By Sharie EppMay 4, 2009

Bear Mountain Arena was vibrating with power last night, when two of the best Junior A hockey teams in Canada took to the ice in the RBC Cup. The difference between the Pacific region’s Vernon Vipers and the Humboldt Broncos, from the West, probably came down to the pipes. While the Broncos put a couple of shots off the crossbar in the first period, the Vipers notched two goals. In an surprisingly lopsided result, the B.C. Hockey League champion Vipers proceeded to run away with the game, defeating the defending national champions 7-1. “Obviously, we wanted to come out and win as many races as we could,” Vernon coach Mark Ferner said. “I think we played a real good north-south game.” The only team without a loss at the five-team national championship tournament, with two straight wins, Vernon moves on to play the host Victoria Grizzlies tonight at 7 p.m. Humboldt goaltender Mathieu LaRochelle only survived to the halfway point. After the Vipers sank their fifth goal, he was replaced by Andrew Bodnarchuk who had played 13 playoff games, with a goals-against average of 1.44, before being injured. Vernon got the first-period jump in the game, when Rob Short scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 15:39, and Ryan Santana shot from the boards to put one home at 17:49. Cole Ikkala made it 3-0 at 3:44 of the second, and Mike Collins, on a power play, and Kellen Jones sandwiched a marker by Humboldt’s Joel Belair in a flurry of three goals in less than two minutes for a 5-1 Vernon lead to start the third period. The Broncos never quit, but were unable to kick their way past the big Vipers defencemen. And despite having a huge lead, Vernon never quit, either, finishing off with third-period goals by Chris Crowell and Sahir Gill. “They’re a good squad, and they outworked us in a lot of situations on the ice,” Broncos captain Brady Wacker said. “They did a real good job of trapping in the neutral zone.” “It was a tough loss, but we can’t dwell on it.” n In the afternoon game yesterday, the Kingston Kimco Voyageurs and Summerside Western Capitals were both desperately trying to avoid a second loss. After a spirited battle, it was the Voyageurs who prevailed, defeating the Capitals 7-5. Forward Mike Farrell scored a hat trick in the victory. “It wasn’t pretty, but at least it got the job done,” Kingston coach Evan Robinson said, happy to see the rebound, following a 5-0 loss to the Grizzlies on Sunday. “We were hoping to get into the win column, and we didn’t care how.” Behind Vernon at 2-0, Kingston and Humboldt are tied with the host Grizzlies at 1-1, and Summerside is 0-2. Each team has two games remaining in round-robin play. Much of the credit for the Kingston victory goes to goaltender Shawn Sirman, as his team played shorthanded much of the first period. Summerside outshot the Voyageurs 37-17 through two periods, and 50-28 overall. Despite the shots and a scoreless first period, Kingston held a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. The third period was a wild nine-goal shootout, but every time Summerside scored, Kingston had an answer. Besides Farrell, Voyageurs scorers included Jarrett Burton, Ben Power, Dustin Walsh, and Anthony Geldart, while Josh McKinnon, Brent Gallant, Mike MacIsaac, Daniel Whelan, and Nathan Snowie connected for the Capitals. “It was a tough one to lose,” said Summerside coach Ken MacDougall. “We had quality chances, but full credit to their goalie.”