Ikky Gets Tricky:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Ikky gets tricky

Published: January 19, 2010

Cole Ikkala saw an opening and barged on through. Jumping up to a line with snipers Braden Pimm and Mike Collins, the Philadelphia power forward netted his first-ever B.C. Hockey League hat trick as the Vernon Vipers stuffed the host Cowichan Valley Capitals 5-1 Sunday at Island Savings Centre in Duncan.

Collins (1+3), Ikkala and Pimm (4A) swept the three stars before 945 fans.

“He (Ikkala) played hard and has been very consistent for us, so good for him,” said Vipers’ head coach Mark Ferner.

The reason Ikkala got his prime playing minutes was due in part to the Vipers’ lacklustre effort in a 5-3 loss to the Victoria Grizzlies Saturday night at Bear Mountain Arena. Unhappy with the team’s effort, Ferner sat regulars Jonathan Milhouse, Bryce Kakoske and Dylan Walchuk against Cowichan.

“We usually get the best effort out of the other team and we didn’t have ours,” said Ferner, of Saturday night. “We weren’t at our best, that’s for sure. Everybody was fighting the puck.

“It could have been other guys (that sat out). We just need to be more consistent. We know how good we can be when we play consistent.”

Ferner wasn’t overly concerned when asked about the effect Jan. 10 deadline additions might have on team chemistry.

“We have the ability now to mix things up. Sometimes it takes a while to find chemistry and we just need to be patient with it.”

After spotting the Caps (16-29-0-2) a one-goal lead on Jackson Garrett’s 17th goal at 4:22, Vernon (39-5-0-2) responded late in the first when Collins (24th goal) turned and fired a beauty no-look blast to beat Alexandre Peck (33 saves) top corner.

Ikkala (14th) gave Vernon the lead at 1:29 of the second frame, followed by Cory Kane’s 20th of the season at 4:38.

Ikkala potted his 15th and 16th goals in the third period, including one on the powerplay, to complete the trick.

Netminder Graeme Gordon was steady in recording 27 stops for Vernon.

Saturday night, the Vipers pegged the Grizz (24-14-2-5) to a three-goal lead, with Mike Tebbutt (2nd), Jordan Heywood (11th) and Dustin Mowrey (28th) supplying the firepower.

Milhouse (19th), a former Grizzlie, started a Viper rally late in the second period when he scored on a partial breakaway. Connor Jones (29th) made it a one-goal game with a shorty at 18:05 and Pimm (21st) equalized 54 seconds into the third frame.

However, Victoria didn’t buckle and used goals by Madison Dias (8th) and Alex Allan to preserve their five-game winning streak before 1,570 fans.

Victoria netminder Ryan Holfeld finished with 25 saves while rookie keeper Blake Voth (25 saves) suffered his first loss of the season.

When the three stars were not announced after the game, Grizzlies’ head coach Vic Gervais sent his entire team back on the ice.

“In my eyes, they were all stars,’’ said Gervais on the team website. “We have a young team and they worked very hard and stuck to the game-plan for that win.’’

Added Mowrey (1+3): “This is a great feeling to beat the Vipers. Vernon has a great team and we knew that they would come at us hard but we found that extra wind in the third period.

“We changed our game-plan a bit for this game and one of our main objectives was to slow them down by hitting them.’’

Vernon completed their Vancouver Island swing against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (36-10-1-2) Tuesday night at Weyerhauser Arena, making it their fifth game in seven days (including the BCHL All-Star Game).

“That’s a lot of hockey,” said Ferner.

SNAKE BITES: The Alberni Valley Bulldogs’ Mitch MacMillan scored his 50th goal of the season in just his 49th game during an 8-2 victory over the Langley Chiefs. He finished the week with three goals and six points to earn Player of the Week. He is the first BCHLer to score 50-in-50 since Kyle Turris (Phoenix Coyotes) did it in 2006-07...Burnaby Express general manager Darcy Rota will complete the season as the team’s interim head coach after the club fired Dave McLellan following Friday night’s 8-2 loss to the Surrey Eagles. “The team had been struggling for some time and we felt that the time for a change had come,” said Rota. McLellan had been head coach since the 2007-08 campaign...The Dawson Creek Rage of the North American Hockey League have signed Scott Robinson as its first general manager/head coach. Robinson, formerly of Enderby, is a two-time BCHL Coach of the Year. He spent the last six seasons with the Cowichan Valley Capitals before being fired in October.