This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:Published: September 22, 2009
At 4-0, the Vernon Vipers are ranked No. 1 in the Canadian Junior Hockey League for the third straight week.
Four-year veteran Rob Short is on injury reserve, twins Connor and Kellen Jones haven’t scored a goal yet and goalie Graeme Gordon has a shiny 1.80 goals against average.
However, after a 5-1 B.C. Hockey League win over the goal-challenged Trail Smoke Eaters Saturday night at Wesbild Centre, captain Kevin Kraus wasn’t about to talk about this year’s Snakes in relation to the national championship gang.
“This quick, I don’t think we can compare,” said Kraus, who earned first star with 1+2 from the back end. “We still have a lot of things to work out, some kinks, some work ethic, but we’re getting there.”
The Vipers, who are ranked ahead of the Alberta League’s Spruce Grove Saints (5-0), host the Quesnel Millionaires and Williams Lake Timberwolves this weekend. They don’t play teams with winning records until the following weekend when they tangle with the Westside Warriors and Penticton Vees.
Kraus, who just turned 20, wired a point shot past Garrett Beckwith on a powerplay midway through the third period in front of 1,800 fans Saturday night.
He drew assists on Mike Collins’ fourth goal of the season, on an early second-period powerplay which put Vernon up 1-0, and Cory Kane’s fourth, shorthanded, with 1:13 remaining in the game.
Jonathan Milhouse fed Kane a gorgeous saucer pass right in front of Beckwith for a beauty.
Sawyer Mick, with the winner, and Cole Ikkala (2nd) also scored for the Vipers. Tye Lewis (2nd) replied for the Smokies midway through the second period.
Kraus, a Californian who played 57 major junior games with the Kamloops Blazers and Tri-City Americans before joining Vernon for 18 games two years ago, wasn’t totally surprised when he was chosen team captain.
“Yes and no,” said the 6-foot-2, 205-pounder. “You always want to go into it thinking yah, but I’m glad that I got it and hopefully I can lead this team to victory again. Playing in the WHL, I’m sure helped a little bit, and I’m getting old. I wanna be an extra coach for these guys.”
Kraus is impressed with the effort of the rookie corps.
“The rookies are battling pretty hard. It’s good to see. What else can we ask for?”
Trail, who dropped to 0-3, has scored just four times. They competed hard, but lacked finish up front. Vernon outshot the Smokies 40-20.
“A lack of discipline, a lack of leadership in the final 10 minutes,” said Smokies’ head coach Jim Ingram, when asked to assess the game. “We had opportunities. We didn’t bury them. You play like that against this team, you’re going to get penalized. It’s simple. It really is.”
Ingram figures the Snakes are pretty much a carbon-copy of last year.
“They are consistently good. They just do all the little things. Their powerplay is very good because the skill level that they possess affords them to be a little bit carefree on the powerplay. They make nice plays, nice passes, they pick up the puck and they’re gone.”
At 4-0, the Vernon Vipers are ranked No. 1 in the Canadian Junior Hockey League for the third straight week.
Four-year veteran Rob Short is on injury reserve, twins Connor and Kellen Jones haven’t scored a goal yet and goalie Graeme Gordon has a shiny 1.80 goals against average.
However, after a 5-1 B.C. Hockey League win over the goal-challenged Trail Smoke Eaters Saturday night at Wesbild Centre, captain Kevin Kraus wasn’t about to talk about this year’s Snakes in relation to the national championship gang.
“This quick, I don’t think we can compare,” said Kraus, who earned first star with 1+2 from the back end. “We still have a lot of things to work out, some kinks, some work ethic, but we’re getting there.”
The Vipers, who are ranked ahead of the Alberta League’s Spruce Grove Saints (5-0), host the Quesnel Millionaires and Williams Lake Timberwolves this weekend. They don’t play teams with winning records until the following weekend when they tangle with the Westside Warriors and Penticton Vees.
Kraus, who just turned 20, wired a point shot past Garrett Beckwith on a powerplay midway through the third period in front of 1,800 fans Saturday night.
He drew assists on Mike Collins’ fourth goal of the season, on an early second-period powerplay which put Vernon up 1-0, and Cory Kane’s fourth, shorthanded, with 1:13 remaining in the game.
Jonathan Milhouse fed Kane a gorgeous saucer pass right in front of Beckwith for a beauty.
Sawyer Mick, with the winner, and Cole Ikkala (2nd) also scored for the Vipers. Tye Lewis (2nd) replied for the Smokies midway through the second period.
Kraus, a Californian who played 57 major junior games with the Kamloops Blazers and Tri-City Americans before joining Vernon for 18 games two years ago, wasn’t totally surprised when he was chosen team captain.
“Yes and no,” said the 6-foot-2, 205-pounder. “You always want to go into it thinking yah, but I’m glad that I got it and hopefully I can lead this team to victory again. Playing in the WHL, I’m sure helped a little bit, and I’m getting old. I wanna be an extra coach for these guys.”
Kraus is impressed with the effort of the rookie corps.
“The rookies are battling pretty hard. It’s good to see. What else can we ask for?”
Trail, who dropped to 0-3, has scored just four times. They competed hard, but lacked finish up front. Vernon outshot the Smokies 40-20.
“A lack of discipline, a lack of leadership in the final 10 minutes,” said Smokies’ head coach Jim Ingram, when asked to assess the game. “We had opportunities. We didn’t bury them. You play like that against this team, you’re going to get penalized. It’s simple. It really is.”
Ingram figures the Snakes are pretty much a carbon-copy of last year.
“They are consistently good. They just do all the little things. Their powerplay is very good because the skill level that they possess affords them to be a little bit carefree on the powerplay. They make nice plays, nice passes, they pick up the puck and they’re gone.”
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