Vipers Hit Break At No. 1

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Vipers hit break at No. 1

Published: December 22, 2009

After picking apart the Victoria Grizzlies like they were a Christmas tree ornament, Friday night, the Vernon Vipers found the Nanaimo Clippers actually had a holiday spirit Saturday night.

The Vipers worked extra hard to brush back the stubborn Clippers 5-3 before 1,900 B.C. Hockey League fans Saturday night at Wesbild Centre.

Determined to not begin his Christmas break on a bad note, Jonathan Milhouse capped off his hat trick with 4:08 remaining to put the game away. Vernon will spend the festive season in the Canadian Junior A penthouse at 33-2-0-2.

“The game today wasn’t our best,” said Milhouse, who has 41 points on the year. “Maybe it was the fact it was our last game before the Christmas holidays and the guys were excited to get home for the break. We played a great third period though and that’s when we really pulled it together to win.”

The Vipers return to Wesbild Sunday night for a practice and then face the host Trail Smoke Eaters Tuesday night.

The Vipers took an early 1-0 lead on a gorgeous goal by Cory Kane at 1:43. Connor Jones went streaking up the left wing, jumped past a Nanaimo defender, and fed a crisp pass to Kane for his 16th of the year.

The Clippers, sixth place in the Coastal Conference at 15-13-1-8, answered back six minutes later when Luc Olivier Blain connected (15th).

Milhouse potted his first midway through the first period on a nice feed from Jones behind the net. Dan Nycholat earned the second assist.

The teams swapped a pair of goals in the second, with Cody Bremner notching two for Nanaimo and Milhouse and Adam Thompson scoring for Vernon.

Bremner’s second goal came on a bad clearing pass from the Vipers with just 0.8 of a second remaining in the period.

“That goal came on a weird play where the puck went up in the air and I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best and shot it on net,” said Bremner, who is in his first year in a Clipper uniform, after playing for the Grizzlies the past three seasons.

“I didn’t know how much time was left on the clock so I just shot it. I was lucky to get it in before the buzzer seeing as there was just less than a second left in the period.”

The Clippers, playing their fourth game in five nights, went home with only one point on the road trip, thanks to a 2-1 overtime loss to the Westside Warriors last Tuesday.

“Our trip wasn’t very productive from a points perspective,” said Clippers’ head coach Bill Bestwick. “Westside was our closest game where we lost in double overtime. The fact that this was our fourth game in five days, and that we had four guys out tonight with injuries, we still pulled off a good game. We played well tonight for the most part. Vernon has some considerable talent. They’re very dangerous and solid in all areas. We held our own. It was our objective to compete with them every shift.”

The Vipers were without captain Kevin Kraus, sidelined with an upper-body injury., and sniper Kellen Jones, who has missed the last six games with a broken jaw.

The Penticton Vees stayed four points back of the Vipers with a 4-3 win over the host Surrey Eagles before 1,100 fans Saturday night. Luke Curadi scored the power play winner from Beau Bennett at 14:04 of the third period. Penticton is ranked third in the country. The Spruce Grove Saints are second.