Kings Shut Down Vipers In Game 3:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Kings shut down Vipers in Game 3

Published: April 06, 2010 7:00 PM

If it were November or December, Mark Ferner says he could possibly understand it. But to have more passengers than a Westjet seat sale in the midst of an April playoff run, the Vernon Vipers’ head coach is baffled.

The Snakes dropped back-to-back games for just the second time all season as they fell 4-0 to the Powell River Kings in Game 3 of the B.C. Hockey League Fred Page Cup final Monday night at Hap Parker Arena in Powell River.

Following Saturday night’s 3-1 loss in Game 2 at Wesbild Centre, the Vipers trailed the Kings 2-1 in the best-of-seven series heading into Game 4 Tuesday night on the Sunshine Coast.

Game 5 goes Thursday night at Wesbild. If necessary, Game 6 would go Saturday at Hap Parker (7:30 p.m. start), with Game 7 returning to Wesbild Monday.

“I can’t question some guys’ effort,” said Ferner, referring to the lead-by-example play of twins Connor and Kellen Jones, Dave Robinson, Garrett Noonan, Kevin Kraus, Stevie Weinstein, Robbie Short and a handful of others. “But we need more guys to be better, and how we get better is by getting better efforts, that’s it.

“That’s a tough thing to swallow because we’re a team that prides ourselves on our work ethic, and right now we’re just not getting it. Right now, we’re just being out-competed.”

The Vipers have prided themselves on their ability to get production from all four lines this season, but that hasn’t been the case so far in this series. If Ferner can’t rely on his depth, he won’t hesitate to juggle ice time to get results.

“If we have to run with two-and-a-half lines and four dee, we will,” he said.

Chad Niddery buried a loose puck as a posse of Kings crashed the Vipers’ net on a late first-period powerplay. Mat Bodie made a dynamic rush into the Vernon zone and drew the lone assist on Niddery’s eighth of the post-season.

The Kings made it 2-0 at 5:17 of the second period as Cody Rainaldi unleashed a wicked snapshot from the right wing to beat Vernon goalie Graeme Gordon under the crossbar.

The Vipers, who haven’t scored since the first period of Game 2, enjoyed several scoring chances from in tight and the mid slot, but the likes of Cory Kane, Short and Connor failed to hit the net.

Powell River cashed in another powerplay 48 seconds into the third period as Drew Pettitt counted his first goal of the playoffs with a hard, low one-timer to Gordon’s glove side. Bodie earned the assist.

The Kings completed their offence with 6:38 left on a five-on-three powerplay when Bodie went top shelf, stick side, with Gordon screened. Kellen, for goaltender interference, and Adam Thompson, for high sticking, took minor penalties 22 seconds apart to give the Kings the two-man advantage.

Bodie, a smooth skating East St. Paul, Man. product, leads the post-season scoring race with 7-19-26 in 19 games.

“He’s been waiting for this all year,” said Kings’ head coach Kent Lewis, of the Powell River captain. “He played great as captain at the World Junior (A) Challenge and he elevates his play in big games. He’s such a good leader in the dressing room. He’s a 30-year-old in a 19-year-old’s body.”

Lewis credits his squad for shutting down the Vipers’ skill game with a gritty brand of hockey.

“We did what we had to and I think they got frustrated,” he said. “We’re a pretty dialed-in group and we’re a hungry team right now. We’re having a ball out there, and we know we’re playing a good team.”

Kings’ netminder Josh Watson turned in 28 saves for his fourth shutout of the post-season. Gordon made 26 stops for Vernon.

Said Viper captain Kraus: “Emotions got the best of us and we let it get out of hand.”

Aside for the first-place battle with the Penticton Vees in the regular season, Vernon hasn’t faced a ton of adversity this year. Kraus says there’s a reason.

“The reason we didn’t have adversity is because we always played as a team and we kind of got away from that. We haven’t had everyone giving their best effort. We’ve had guys just sitting there eating up ice time.”

In Game 2 Saturday night, Rainaldi collected the winner 3:05 into the third period and Mitch Labreche added an empty-net insurance goal with 24 seconds remaining.

Despite being outshot 9-5 in the first period, Vernon got off to a solid start when Connor took a feed from Sahir Gill just inside the Kings’ blueline then danced around a pair of Powell River defenders before sliding the puck five-hole on Watson on the powerplay.

Special teams played a role again in the second period, this time in Powell River’s favour. After killing off Jason Yee’s tripping minor midway through the period, the Kings went on the powerplay shortly after, with Matt Garbowsky tapping home the rebound off Justin Dasilva’s point shot, deflating the 2,200 fans.

The towering Dasilva set up the winner with a gorgeous stretch pass to Rainaldi, who cut around defenceman Curtis Gedig and tucked the puck behind Gordon.

“We came out with a lot of speed, a lot of grit... that’s what we base our whole hockey club on,” said Dasilva. “We’re a speedy team and we’ve got to keep that up for the entire series.”

Watson recorded 30 saves to earn second star, while Gordon made 23 stops.

Meanwhile, the Spruce Grove Saints hammered the Fort McMurray Oil Barons 6-2 to take a 2-1 series lead in the AJHL Enerflex Cup final.