Short Sparks Viper Win:

Short sparks Viper win

by Don Klepp

Nov 21, 2009

Rob Short’s two goals led the Vernon Vipers to their 18th straight win in a 5-1 game in Surrey on Friday night.

It was a windy stormy night outside the Surrey arena, and Rob Short skated like the wind on the Olympic-sized ice surface. He opened the scoring at 11:07 while killing a Viper penalty. After stealing the puck at the Viper blue line, he outraced the Surrey point men and beat Vinny Lessard low on the stick side for the Viper’s 12th shorthanded goal in 26 games.

Dylan Walchuk added a power play goal at 16:32. Dan Nycholat fired from the point, Bryce Kakoske took a whack at the rebound, and Walchuk buried Kakoske’s rebound. The 2-0 lead at the end of the opening period reflected Viper dominance as they out shot the home team, 17 to 3.

The Eagles came out much stronger in the second period, and their energy paid off in a power play at 8:26. After a series of penalties, the Eagles had a four on three advantage. Adam Basford and Cole Gelley had attempts in close, and Andrew Wallace converted a rebound from five feet. The goal gave Surrey extra energy and they tried for the equalizer. While killing another penalty, Grant Toulmin had an excellent chance, but was robbed by Graeme Gordon’s fine blocker save.

After weathering that storm the Vipers started to re-establish their command. Rob Short scored another important goal for the Vipers as he converted a sweet feed from Dylan Walchuk on an odd-man rush. That rush came after the puck was turned over, following a big save by Gordon on Adam Basford.

Mike Collins basically killed the Eagles’ hopes with a fine individual effort before the period was over. He came out of the corner and roofed the puck over a sprawling Lessard. So, even though the Eagles directed 13 shots at Gordon in the period, they were outscored by the Vipers who fired 16 shots at Lessard.

The third period featured some repeats. Gordon once again robbed Grant Toulmin who was in close, and Rob Short had another short handed breakaway, but this time he was thwarted by Lessard.

An exchange at the benches during a stoppage led to a fight between Surrey’s Jamus Lane and Vernon’s Pat McGillis. Meanwhile, Rob Short was ejected for “interfering from the bench,” a rare call indeed. Viper coach Mark Ferner argued that Lane should have been issued an instigator penalty for hauling McGillis out of the melee and pummeling the Viper rookie, but referee Sean Raphael disagreed.

The final goal of the game came from the stick of Sawyer Mick who went hard to the net as Kellen Jones dangled his way through the Surrey team. Kellen’s inch-perfect cross-ice pass gave Mick an easy tap-in.