Vipers Close Mills In OT To Preserve Nine-Game Streak:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Vipers close Mills in OT to preserve nine-game streak

By Graeme Corbett - Vernon Morning Star

Published: October 27, 2009

The Vernon Vipers had been in cruise control the past few weeks in the B.C. Hockey League. Riding a nine-game win streak, the Snakes hadn’t been involved in a one-goal game in their past six outings, so Saturday night’s 3-2 overtime win over the Quesnel Millionaires was a welcome reality check.
Rookie defenceman Garrett Noonan (2nd goal) pocketed the winner at 4:41 of the first OT, walking in from the point to rip a hard wrister past screened netminder Luke Siemens.
“(Robbie) Short and (Dylan) Walchuk were screening and I got a great pass from Krauser (Kevin Kraus) and got a lucky shot,” said Noonan, a Norfolk, Mass. product who leads the Vipers with 25 penalty minutes.
“You’re not going to win every game 9-2 or 14-0 – they’re (Quesnel) a good hockey team. We’re 3-0 in overtime. It’s a good test because later in the season I’m sure it’ll be closer.”
Noonan admits it was an adjustment coming to the Vipers (16-1), but credits his teammates for helping him settle in.
“It was slow at first. I didn’t think I was out of place, but it’s getting easier now and I’m starting to see the play better. Playing with (Adam) Thompson and all the older defencemen has made it really easy on me.”
Play in the first period was fairly even for the first half, but Vernon gradually started firing from all angles to build a 21-5 shot total.
Second star Siemens (47 saves) kept Quesnel (5-9-0-3) in it, stopping Short with a great right pad save on a feed from Cole Ikkala. Siemens then denied Cory Kane on a redirected shot from Dan Nycholat at side of the net later in the period.
“That was our plan – keep them on the outside and just long shots and he’ll (Siemens) handle that. I thought our young goaltender did a good job of controlling rebounds,” said Quesnel head coach Glen Watson.
“I thought we played pretty well. We just wanted to play an easy simple game, but they’ve got lots of offence on that other side.
“Everybody’s saying they are national champions and you just got to get it in our guys’ minds what’s going on. I think we made believers of ourselves that we can play with them. It was a good confidence boost for our guys.”
Vipers’ forward Connor Jones (12th) opened the scoring on a great solo effort midway through the second, ripping up the right wing, dangling around defenceman Tyler Billon before going five-hole on Siemens.
The Vipers’ Braden Pimm (8th) added another highlight reel goal at 12:45. After breaking in on Siemens, he missed his original shot before pulling an unreal spinning backhand that slid under the keeper. Pimm’s linemate, Mike Collins, started the play by tying up Mills’ sniper Trevor Hertz on what would have been an open-netter.
“I ran out of room and just thought I’d spin around and try a shot on net,” shrugged Pimm. “I don’t know what the d-man for them was doing. I just chipped it by and went to the net hard.”
Quesnel, who tested netminder Graeme Gordon with 26 shots, kept pressing in the third. Taylor Holst (8th) got the Mills going with a shorty at 9:57. After chipping a loose puck past Vipers’ d-man Stevie Weinstein in the neutral zone, Holst put a gorgeous backhand past Gordon.
“I saw that he (Mills’ Darick Ste-Marie) was going to get the puck and knew that he was going to throw it out, so I went up high and got it,” said Holst, pleased with his team’s effort.
“We stuck to our game-plan, kept it simple, we collapsed in our zone and blocked the shots, and as soon as we crossed the redline we dumped it in.
“To beat this team you’ve got to stick together as a team. This is the best team in the league and it shows we can play with anyone.”
The Mills’ Matthew Herskovitz (2nd) forced OT when his shot from the faceoff circle appeared to deflect in off Kraus at 12:23.
Vipers’ head coach Mark Ferner credited Quesnel for not giving up, and the Vipers for not caving in.
“We know that they’re going to come out and work hard, and they did. They kept fighting and kept fighting, and then we gave up the shorthanded goal. It was a funny one but that’s part of the game.
“We need to play in some games like that to see how we’re going to react. We settled down there a little bit, it went both ways and then when we got it into overtime I thought we had the better chances.
“We want to puck to do a lot of the work but when we have the opportunity to challenge guys one-on-one we want to do that as well.”
The Vipers, who are ranked third in the CJHL rankings behind the No. 1 Kingston Voyageurs and No. 2 Spruce Grove Saints, visit the Merritt Centennials (6-9-0-1) Friday night at Nicola Valley Arena to begin a six-game road schedule.
n A total of five BCHLers were named to Central Scouting’s Watch List for the 2010 National Hockey League Entry Draft.
Penticton Vees’ forward Beau Bennett and Westside Warriors’ counterpart Grayson Downing have been listed as B-Level prospects.
Vees’ defencemen Luke Curadi and Joey Laleggia, along with Langley Chiefs’ blueliner Tim Daly have been tabbed as C-level prospects.