Vipers Overcome Langley Chiefs:

Vipers overcome Langley Chiefs

by Don Klepp

Nov 22, 2009

A red hot Jones line led the way as the Vernon Vipers absorbed Langley Chief pressure and responded with a flurry of second period goals en route to a 7-2 victory at the impressive Langley Events Centre.

Blake Voth, who got the start in the Viper goal, made some fine saves to hold the Chiefs at bay, and then the Vipers displayed their offensive prowess.

Voth’s contributions started early in the first period when he held his ground against Trevor Gerling and Travis Irving, who crashed the crease. Later, he used his glove hand to rob Dennis Robertson, the Chief defenceman who trailed the play on an odd-man rush.

Kellen Jones opened the scoring with Langley’s Mitch Pacey in the penalty box for hauling down Rob Short. On the scoring play, Connor Jones took a pass from point man Dan Nycholat and fired a low shot at Andrew Walsh. The rebound came out to Kellen, and he promptly buried it at 12:28.

However, the Chiefs stuck to their game plan of pressuring the Vipers at every opportunity. Their physical strategy paid off when veteran Mac Roy converted a rebound at 18:45. The Chiefs tried to maintain the pressure, but the Vipers responded with a go-ahead goal at 19:41. Kevin Kraus made a great move that left Travis Irving grasping at air, and then Kraus ripped a shot past Walsh. The goal was credited to Cole Ikkala as referee Brett Iverson believed that Ikkala had tipped the shot.

In the second period, the Chiefs got even more physical as they continued to hammer Viper defencemen. They generated a number of scoring chances but were unable to convert their opportunities into goals. They matched the Vipers’ 10 shots in the period, but the Vipers scored all three goals in the middle frame.

The Jones line struck for all three, one by Kellen and two by Connor. Cory Kane was given credit for Kellen’s goal, but Kellen clearly appeared to bang in a rebound off Connor’s shot at 5:06. Then, at 15:13 Kellen showed lots of patience as he picked up a loose puck while trailing the play. He set up Connor for a clean shot, which Connor calmly finished. Connor’s second goal of the period came at 17:31. Once again, Cory Kane and Kellen were in on the play.

By this point in the game, the Chiefs were showing signs of intense frustration because they were down 5-1 despite following coach Harvey Smyl’s game plan.

Early in the third, Mike Collins stuck a dagger in the collective Chiefs’ hearts with a smart move that fooled Walsh. His goal at 1:31 was assisted by Braden Pimm and Kevin Kraus. The Viper captain continued to play a strong game as he earned his second point of the contest.

Mac Roy got one back for the Chiefs as he scored his 13th of the season at 7:19 while the Chiefs had a man advantage. Roy’s second of the game came when he deflected a point shot past Voth, who had no chance.

From that point, the Vipers took over and they out shot the home team 17 to 5 in the final period. The final shot totals favored the Vipers, 40 to 25, meaning that the defending RBC champions have out shot their opposition in every game this season.

Although this game was very physical at times, there was just one fight until a group altercation at the end of the game. At 16:51, Brad McBride rammed Nick Amies into goalie Blake Voth. Amies took exception and won a decision over McBride.

In the game-ending unpleasantness, the Chiefs’ frustration boiled over. Matt Cronin took the only penalty, a fighting major for his attack on Steve Weinstein.