Snakes Snipe Saints In Game 4:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Snakes snipe Saints in Game 4

By Graeme Corbett - Vernon Morning Star and Kevin Mitchell

Published: April 22, 2010

The Vernon Vipers used a high-octane blend of nimble playmaking and lethal straightaway speed to swamp the Spruce Grove Saints 6-3 in Game 4 of the Doyle Cup Junior A Hockey Championship Wednesday night at Wesbild Centre.

The Snakes, with their 66th win of the season, now lead the best-of-seven series 3-1. A win in Game 5, which went Thursday night at Wesbild, would earn the Snakes a return to the Royal Bank Cup national championships, May 1-9 in Dauphin, Man.

Viper forward Connor Jones, with back-to-back goals in the second period, including the winner late in the frame, earned first star. He picked off Joshua Lazowski’s centering pass to earn a shorthanded breakaway for his first goal, electrifying the 2,072 fans. The speedy Kootenay product sniped the top corner over sprawled Saints’ keeper Vincenzo Marozzi from a sharp angle for the second.

That goal chased Marozzi (19 saves on 23 shots), who didn’t get a lot of help from his team. Travis Rolheiser recorded 15 stops in relief.

The line of Connor, twin brother Kellen and Sahir Gill have accounted for half of Vernon’s 14 goals in this series.

“Guys like Connor can bring it every single night,” said the Snakes’ Mike Collins, who busted out of a 12-game goal drought with a two-goal showing.

“I was in a bit of a slump there, so I just come out every night and work as hard as I can. If the chances are there, great, but if not, work harder.”

Collins, sporting a three-inch welt on his neck from a high stick he took after salting the game with an empty-netter in the final minute, says the experience from last year’s RBC has helped keep the playoffs in perspective.

“You’ve got to look at the big picture, and whatever the outcome is, win or lose, you’ve got to stay positive.

“We’re just ready to go, we know what we have to do.”

The Saints’ Wes McLeod, the most coveted player in the nation at the January trading deadline, and the rest of Saints’ defensive core had trouble containing the roadrunner Vipers all night. McLeod, a former Prince George Spruce King, was a teammate of the Jones twins at the World Junior A Challenge last November in PEI.

Asked if he gets tired of going up against Connor and Kellen, the Kamloops product replied: “It gets a little frustrating at times, but no, they’re great guys off the ice so it works out good.”

Vernon’s David Robinson, sneaking a weak backhand over Marozzi’s right pad, and Spruce Grove’s Bryce Van Brabant, converting a quick passing play between Liam Darragh and Scott Allen after a turnover in the slot, had the two clubs deadlocked after 20 minutes.

Despite the tight score, the Vipers were easily the harder working team, outshooting the Saints 19-7 in the first period, and 40-28 overall. On Spruce Grove’s lone powerplay in the first frame, the Snakes earned two shorthanded breakaways, the best one when Braden Pimm muscled in towards the net but couldn’t beat Marozzi five-hole.

Spruce Grove head coach Steve Hamilton said the Vipers played their same up-tempo style on the bigger Wesbild Centre ice surface.

“Their high-end guys make things happen off the rush. They’re just real dynamic. We looked at times just to be fumbling around. We can’t afford to get behind early and not have a response early.

“I liked our third period but it’s like putting lipstick on a pig at that point.”

Collins fired a puck through Marozzi on an early powerplay to restore Vernon’s lead in the second period.

Just when Spruce Grove looked like they might generate some momentum midway through the second, hemming Vernon in their own end, Jonathan Milhouse and rookies Dylan Walchuk and Pat McGillis responded with a solid shift to seize it back.

McGillis has filled in admirably for an injured Bryce Kakoske the last few games.

“It was exactly two months in between games, but it was nice to get back in there, especially in a different rink (Grant Fuhr Arena in Spruce Grove), a new environment. It felt great,” smiled McGillis.

“It was tough the first game. After a 30-, 45-second shift I was really tired, but now I’m starting to get my legs back. During my time off I spent a lot of time in the gym so I was in alright shape.”

For Milhouse, who played with the host Victoria Grizzlies at last year’s RBC, the chance to experience a playoff run has been a treat.

“Everyone gels together and you have to be at your best going through playoffs,” said the Yorba Linda, Calif. native. “We were fortunate to be hosting it, but going through all this (playoffs) is a lot of fun.

“We didn’t want to take the route that we did (early exit in B.C. Hockey League playoffs). We wanted to prove that just because we were hosting it we did deserve to be there.”

Robinson, with his second of the night at 5:54 of the third period made it 5-1 Vernon, but Spruce Grove looked to make a game of it with goals by Kodie Curran and Josh Keizer just over a minute apart midway through the period.

Vipers’ head coach Mark Ferner wisely used his timeout to settle things down.

“That’s a good lesson for us; when momentum starts changing the other way we just need to simplify and make sure we’re on the right side of pucks,” said Ferner.

“They’re not going to roll over just because we’ve got a couple-goal lead. You have to give them credit for that, but we weren’t as sound as we needed to be.”

Hamilton challenged his players to show some moxy in Game 5.

“My question to the guys is to ask themselves how much longer do they want to keep playing? We have obviously painted ourselves into quite a corner. I don’t actually wanna hear the answer, I wanna see the answer.

“They’re a dynamic team and they create offence far more easily than we do. We have to grind and chip away and when we give up easy goals against, it makes the climb that much steeper.”

There are 131 teams in the Canadian Junior A Hockey League. The Saints and Vipers were ranked one-two this season.