Young Prairie Dogs Lead Vipers:

Young Prairie Dogs Lead Vipers

by Don Klepp - Nov 9, 2009

In a game when Braden Pimm scored his first BCHL hat trick to lead Viper scorers in a 6-0 win over the Williams Lake Timberwolves, Pimm was upstaged to some extent by a quartet of young prairie-bred players.

Pimm, in his third season with the Vipers, scored all three goals in the second period. All of them came from his trademark all-out effort, especially the third goal. He and Mike Collins thwarted a Williams Lake power play rush and Pimm beat Evan Dauenhauer for his second short handed goal of the season.

Pimm’s second period outburst was enough to put the nail in the Timberwolves’ coffin, which had been closed by the Vipers’ so-called fourth line. The Timberwolves came up with a strong effort in the first period, and actually out shot the Vipers, 9-8. However, Vernon scored the only goal of the opening frame. Drew George converted feeds by Dan Nycholat and Darrin Robak at 16:28.

That fourth line of George, Robak, and Pat McGillis buzzed all game for the Vipers. The three rookies all hail from the prairies, George from Regina, Robak from Red Deer, and McGillis from Calgary. All three have been in and out of the Viper lineup in the early part of this season, but they’ve had a chance to play in the recent run of five Viper road games, while Kellen and Connor Jones have been at the World Junior “A” Challenge.

The young prairie dogs have responded well, with 6 goals and 17 scoring points in the three-game northern swing this weekend. In this game, they contributed three goals. Following George’s first period marker, McGillis scored in the second period and George scored the Vipers’ sixth goal in the third period.

Meanwhile, another rookie from the prairies, Blake Voth, recorded his second shutout in five games played, as he stopped all 27 Timberwolf shots. The soft-spoken native of Herbert, Saskatchewan was very solid, coming up with big saves when required. In the process, he lowered his goals against average to 1.40, best in the BCHL. He also leads the league in save percentage, at 93.60.