Bonar Thwarts Strong Viper Effort:

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bonar thwarts strong viper effort

By Don Klepp | Added 2009-12-13

A crowd of 4522 at the South Okanagan Events Centre saw a tremendous hockey game Saturday night. The Vipers outplayed Penticton, but superb goaltending by Sean Bonar kept the Vees in the game, and eventually the home team won 3-2 on a double overtime goal by Matt Paltridge.

The game followed essentially the same pattern as the previous night’s tilt between the Vipers and Salmon Arm, with the Vipers controlling much of the play for the first two periods. The shots on goal reflected the play; Vernon outshot the hosts 13 to 8 in the opening frame, with most of the Vee shots coming in a three-minute flurry toward the end of the period.

Steve Papp, who is known for calling penalties on teams that are already a man short, gave the Vipers a two-man advantage early in the game, and the Vipers capitalized at 4:19. Crisp passing allowed Connor Jones and Jonathan Milhouse to set up a two-on-one near Bonar’s goal. From the right side, Jones fed a perfect cross-crease pass to Milhouse, who one-timed the puck on his off wing. The Vipers continued to press with the man advantage, but Bonar stopped everything thrown at him. His best stop was a point-blank save on a Cole Ikkala chance.

The second period saw more of the same, as the Vipers held the Vees to just three shots. One of those came on a bull rush by Logan Johnston, Jake Johnson, and Eric Filiou. Graeme Gordon used every bit of his size and strength to keep the puck (and the three Vee forwards) out of his net. As in the first, the Vipers had six excellent scoring chances in the second period. The best of these came when Milhouse stole the puck from a Vee defenceman and went in alone on Bonar. The young Vee netminder snaked out a pad to deny Milhouse his second goal of the night.

Just 9 seconds into the third period, Steve Papp again had a hand in the game’s outcome when he called a marginal hooking penalty on Cory Kane. Then, 38 seconds into the Vee power play, he issued a four-minute high sticking penalty to Connor Jones. With Graeme Gordon standing tall, the Vipers were able to withstand all but three seconds of the five-on-three pressure. Gordon was able to get his left pad on Joey Laleggia’s point shot, but the puck lay tantalizingly just outside the goal line and Garrett Milan poked it in to tie the game. The goal was awarded to Laleggia, leading to the assumption that the referee ruled it had already crossed the goal line.

Not only did the Vipers kill the nearly three minutes of the Jones double minor, they scored a short handed effort to regain the lead. With 12 seconds remaining in the penalties, Dan Nycholat cleared the zone and Mike Collins found the speedy Jonathan Milhouse for a breakaway. Milhouse's perfect shot went top shelf on Bonar’s glove side.

The remainder of the period was as exciting as junior hockey gets, with both goalies putting on a show. Buoyed by the Milhouse effort, the Vipers created several scoring chances, but Bonar kept the game close.

The Vees had some chances, too, and they capitalized on an innocent-looking play at 9:45. Following a faceoff in the Viper zone, Byron Sorenson’s point shot found its way through traffic, and Garrett Milan pounced on the rebound.

Shortly after, Rob Short stole the puck from Laleggia at the Vee blue line. Short tried a triple deke, but Bonar stayed with Short, who had been the overtime hero in the Vipers’ October 9 win in Penticton.

That set the stage for overtime. Early in the first overtime period, Penticton’s Isaac McLeod received a tripping penalty and Jonathan Milhouse nearly converted from the same spot as his first-period goal. This time, Bonar somehow got his right pad on the puck. He made two more fine saves in the four-on-four session, and the game progressed to five minutes of three-on-three action.

Paltridge’s overtime winner came after the Vipers had been foiled once again by Bonar. The play went back up ice and the Vipers, gassed by their offensive thrust, left Paltridge wide open for a 20-foot slap shot that went over Gordon’s catching hand.

Game Notes:

• The Viper streak of road wins stopped at 17, which ties the mark set by the 1989-90 New Westminster Royals.

• Final shot totals favoured the Vipers, 38 to 25.

• The Vipers kept high scoring Denver Manderson firmly in check in this game, although he was given an assist on the game winner. He also received a phantom assist on the goal credited to Laleggia.

• In the four games between the two teams so far this season, Penticton has garnered seven points, while the Vipers have earned three.

• They have two more regular season games, February 12 in Vernon, and February 17 in Penticton. Those two games could well decide who finishes in first place in the Interior Conference, to earn a first-round bye in the playoffs.

• A two-for-one ticket promotion and a food bank event helped lead to the (unofficially) third largest crowd in BCHL history. The event also raised over $31,000 for local charities, which had been promised by local merchants if the gate surpassed 3,500.