Saints’ Power Play Decides Doyle Cup Opener:

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Saints’ power play decides Doyle Cup opener

by Don Klepp | Added 2010-04-17

Scott Allen’s power play goal gave the Spruce Grove Saints a 6-5 overtime win in the opening game of the 2010 Doyle Cup.

At 5:58 of the first overtime period, Allen deflected a low Dillon Simpson point shot past Graeme Gordon to send about 900 Spruce Grove fans home happy. The Saint power play scored three times in four opportunities to rescue a game in which, for the most part, the Saints were outplayed by the Vipers.

The visitors started early, with pressure on their opening two shifts. Cole Ikkala made that pressure pay off with a goal at 1:08 when he converted a rebound from a Braden Pimm shot.

The Vipers continued to carry the play for the first half of the period, as the big Saint defencemen had difficulty coping with the Vipers’ speed and puck movement.

The Saints equalized when Adam Henderson got a lucky bounce at the side of the net during a goal mouth scramble at 11:28, just 18 seconds after Cory Kane had been sent off for interference. Henderson’s eighth power play goal of the playoffs came when he and line mates Brett Cameron and Jordan Draper stormed Graeme Gordon’s crease following a faceoff win and a point shot.

The Vipers surged ahead at the 16-minute mark, courtesy of a strong forecheck by the Pimm/Collins/Ikkala line. Braden Pimm was the trigger man. In the first period, his line created turnover after turnover in the Saints zone, and the Vipers created nine scoring chances to just four by the Saints.

However, the home team tied the score when Graeme Gordon misplayed Josh Koper’s long wrist shot at 19:39.

The Vipers went head again at 2:21 of the second period, on the power play. Cory Kane fired a high wrist shot from the right faceoff circle after Dan Nycholat and Adam Thompson had played catch at the Saint blue line. The Saints’ Vincenzo Marozzi appeared to be screened on the play.

Once again, the Saints equalized with a power play goal. Nate Fleming popped in a rebound of a Ryan Kerr point shot 13 seconds after Bryce Kakoske had been penalized for hooking. Then, Fleming scored again at 12:21 to give the Saints their first lead. He beat Adam Thompson to the side of the crease and he steered in Tim Nolte’s cross crease pass.

This year, the Saints have not lost in 53 games when leading after two periods, but the Jones line put that streak in jeopardy in the third period. First, at 1:09, Kellen Jones snapped in a loose puck after Kevin Kraus’s hit Tyler Hart on the jaw and left the young defender writhing on the ice.

The Saints regained the lead on a strange play at 9:30. Tim Nolte got credit for a goal that resulted from a couple of high bounces off the backboards.

However, a marginal holding call on Josh Koper at 16:04 gave the Vipers their seventh power play of the night, and they responded with a pretty set of give-and-go passes between Connor and Kellen Jones. Connor was the trigger man at 16:43, deftly depositing Kellen’s through pass past Vincenzo Marozzi.

With five seconds remaining in regulation, Mike Collins nearly get the winner, but Marozzi’s superb pad save denied Collins.

Early in the overtime period, Marozzi again saved the game for the Saints when he robbed Connor Jones and Braden Pimm from close range. His heroics set the stage for Allen’s winner, which came with Connor in the penalty box. Connor was assessed a kneeing penalty when he got tangled with Wes McLeod deep in the Saint zone. Connor was trying to steal the puck while killing off the remaining seconds of a Bryce Kakoske penalty.

After the game, Viper captain Kevin Kraus was deeply disappointed. “We gave them too many goals tonight. This is not the way we play.” The facts support Kraus’s assertion. The six goals were the most the Vipers have allowed in a game this year.

The Saints were also out of character. They surrendered five goals for just the third time in 77 games. In 56 of those games, they have limited their AJHL opposition to two or fewer goals.

Final shots favoured the Vipers, 33 to 31, and they had 26 scoring chances compared to 16 by Spruce Grove. In the end, though, special teams made the difference. Clearly, the Vipers will have to avoid taking penalties so they can deny the brutally efficient Saint power play.