Vipers Start With Win:

Vipers Start With Win

by Don Klepp -May 4, 2009

With a quick start and a dominating second period, the Vernon Vipers opened their account at the RBC Cup with a solid 4-2 win over the Summerside Western Capitals. Vernon stunned the PEI squad with a goal at the 13-second mark of the period. They controlled the play off the opening face off and Cam Brodie moved the puck to Chris Crowell along the right boards. Crowell got the puck into the Summerside zone, but lost the handle. Supporting his team mate, Mike Collins grabbed the loose puck and fed Braden Pimm in front of the Capitals’ goal. From 15 feet, Pimm ripped a shot over Alex Dupuis’s left shoulder, and the Vipers were off and running. Just over 6 minutes later, the Vipers were killing a penalty when Mike Leidl head-manned the puck to Kellen Jones, whose shot came directly off the back boards. Going hard to the net, Connor Jones athletically jumped and twisted, and somehow got his stick blade on the puck as it came knee high between his shin pads. In between the two Viper goals, sniper Mike MacIsaac had an excellent chance in front of Andrew Hammond. MacIsaac’s shot seemed destined for the top corner, but Hammond displayed his now-famous acrobatic “Spoke” save to prevent a tying goal. The shots were 8-7 in favour of the Vipers in the opening frame, although they had more scoring chances (9 to 4). That dominance became much more pronounced in the second period, as the Pacific representatives poured it on. Their 21 shots and 14 scoring chances translated into just two goals because Dupuis was sensational in the Summerside goal. However, the Vipers added to their total with two tallies in 26 seconds. Connor Jones scored his second of the game with a highlight reel goal at 11:17. He controlled Kevin Kraus’s stretch pass at the Summerside blue line and went one-on-one with Dupuis. Connor faked left, and then placed a backhand over Dupuis’s left shoulder. Next, Braden Pimm and Mike Collins went back to work. Another long pass from Kevin Kraus found Pimm, who fed Collins for a tap-in at the Summerside doorstep. In the third, the Vipers relaxed and the Western Capitals found some energy of their own. As a result, the Caps scored twice in the period. First, Nathan Desroches finished off a strong forecheck by his line mates. Brad Smith and defenceman Parker Deighan assisted on Desroches’s rebound conversion while on the power play. And at 16:43, Mike MacIsaac’s deflection of a Josh McKinnon point shot finished the scoring. Final shot totals were 38 to 21 in favour of the Vipersfore check, who also led in scoring chances (29-12) and hits (22-16). However, the Capitals were able to take away some positives because of their improved third period play. The Vipers, meanwhile, have confirmed that they surely belong in this competition. The frequent power plays chewed up a lot of time in this game as referee Colby Smith called 8 Viper penalties and 14 Western Capital transgressions. The PEI squad has 9 players who were assessed over 100 penalty minutes in the 54-game regular season and 5 players who spent more than 200 minutes in the penalty box, so perhaps their penalty total in this contest could have been anticipated. Despite all the power plays (including two 5 on 3 advantages for Vernon), only one power play goal was scored. Unofficially, the Vipers were 0 for 12 with the man advantage. The Caps went 1 for 8, while giving up Connor Jones’s short handed tally in the first period.