Snakes Stop Saints For RBC Return:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Snakes stop Saints for RBC return

By Graeme Corbett - Vernon Morning Star and Kevin Mitchell - Vernon Morning Star

Published: April 27, 2010

The No. 1 ranked team in the Canadian Junior A Hockey League is going home. The No. 2 seeded club is off to Dauphin, Man. to defend the Royal Bank Cup Championship.

The Vernon Vipers stopped the Spruce Grove Saints 7-3 Sunday night in Game 7 of the regional Doyle Cup series before 1,770 fans at Wesbild Centre.

It was Vernon’s seventh Doyle Cup title as they finally solved Saints’ netminder Vince Marozzi, beating the Edmonton product five times on 29 shots, before adding two late empty-netters.

The Snakes open the five-team national Junior A tourney Saturday (5 p.m. PT) against host Dauphin Kings. They then tangle with the Western champion La Ronge Ice Wolves Sunday (5 p.m.) before getting a rest day Monday.

At noon Tuesday, Vernon goes up against the Central champion Oakville Blades before ending the round-robin Wednesday (noon) against the Eastern representative Brockville Braves.

Vipers head coach Mark Ferner credited the Saints for pushing Vernon, a team with a dozen returnees, to the limit after falling behind 3-1 in the series. Spruce Grove forced Game 7 after outlasting the Snakes 3-2 in Game 6 Saturday night before 2,564 fans.

“Your backs are against the wall. You’d like to think that Spruce Grove had the momentum winning the last two games. It’s either win and move on, or lose and go home,” said the former NHL defenceman.

“All our guys who have been here before set the tone early. It looks good on them, they deserve this. And that was a great hockey team we played, so this was very rewarding for them.”

The Snakes’ Jonathan Milhouse used his speed to set up the opening goal in the first period, hustling for a loose puck in the neutral zone to earn a partial shorthanded breakaway. After missing his shot, the Yorba Linda, Calif. product collected the rebound and set up Braden Pimm for a point-blank blast at 9:30.

On the very next shift, Vernon defenceman Kevin Kraus, also a California import, covered the puck in the crease during a goalmouth scramble, forcing referee Trevor Hanson to award the Saints a penalty shot. Jordan Draper beat netminder Graeme Gordon high, but rang his shot off the crossbar.

Spruce Grove equalized shortly after, as Scott Allen took a feed from Kodie Curran on a broken play and slid his shot under Gordon.

Curran and Allen were healthy scratches for Game 6 after they broke curfew with netminder Travis Rolheiser. The Saints dressed call-up netminder Jordan Cooke in place of Rolheiser, who was sent home Saturday.

The Saints briefly took the lead when Viper d-man Curtis Gedig giftwrapped a clearing pass from behind the net to Liam Darragh, who beat Gordon (26 saves) low at 16:34.

Vernon responded just 13 seconds later by rattling off three goals in a two-minute span to close out the first period. Pimm started the shooting spree as he cruised up the left wing and wired a shot top shelf over Marozzi’s shoulder.

Cory Kane then took a feed from Kraus, and beat Marozzi from the high slot at 16:47. Kellen Jones finished the onslaught with 65 seconds left in the frame, taking a drop pass from Sahir Gill and ripping a shot by Marozzi. It was one of the few times the Grove keeper has been caught out of position in this series.

“Tonight it seemed like they were hitting posts instead of us,” said Pimm, a third-year forward handed BCHL Player of the Week with 3+4 in the series. “We were getting the good bounces so I guess the hockey gods were smiling on us today.

“These games you play all year for. It’s Game 7; when you’re a kid you dream of playing in these kinds of games. It’s good to play in them and it’s good to be on the right end of it.”

Pimm, who has a scholarship with the NCAA Northeastern Huskies, was one of 11 Vipers playing his last game in Vernon. The likeable Fort St. John product made his way to the Snakes as a 17-year-old from the Notre Dame Hounds program in Wilcox, Sask.

“I’ve been away from home a lot since I was a kid. It’s a lot different here than Fort St. John. It’s a lot nicer and all the nice looking ladies, including my billet mom (Marlene Stark),” smiled Pimm. “I couldn’t ask for a better place.”

The Vipers made it 5-2 midway through the second period as Connor Jones got a stick on Kraus’s knuckleball point shot. The Saints salvaged a little momentum while on a powerplay in the final minute of the second as Draper crept in from the sidewall to fire a shot that snuck under Gordon’s arm.

The Vipers went into survival mode in the third period, putting up a defensive wall, and collapsing around Gordon whenever the Saints got a whiff of the net.

Connor Jones and Robbie Short recorded empty-netters 30 seconds apart in the final minute.

Short, a 20-year-old local product who will join the silver medalist junior B lacrosse Vernon Tigers after the RBC, was asked if winning ever gets old.

“It never gets old,” said the power winger, after his 293rd game as a Viper. “We kind of put ourselves in a tough position, Game 7, but there’s no more excitement than that and I think we came out and we were excited and we were confident and that’s what got us the win.”

Short said the Snakes tweaked their powerplay and talked about having fun while going hard.

“They have a good team. They never quit, at any point in any of the games. They came back on us a couple of times and they were down 3-1 and they came back so obviously a good character team. They obviously deserved to be No. 1 in Canada, I thought. They had an amazing season. It’s too bad we both can’t go on to the RBC.”

Kraus, who hoisted the Doyle Cup but is saving a victory lap for another trophy, echoed Short’s comments about success.

“It will never get old. It’s a great feeling. It was a good series. We were up 3-1 and we kind of got away from our game-plan for two games there and let ‘em back in the series, but we came back to win Game 7.”

Kraus, 20, figured the Vipers definitely brought their best to the final dance.

“We had a couple of let-downs in the first period, but other than that, we played a great, solid game. The fans were unreal. They’ve been unreal all playoffs. All three years I’ve been here, they’ve always came out and support us. It’s great to see them support my last game, personally. I’ll never forget this place. It’s going to be tough leaving and hopefully I’ll leave with another ring on my finger.”

Added Connor, who led the Vipers with six goals and four helpers in the Doyle series: “Everyone bought into our systems and we just played simple, and I think there’s no team that can outplay us when we play like that.”

A gracious Hamilton realized the Saints went up against an extraordinary, high-end Vernon team, the type of club which only comes around so often.

“It seems like kind of a skewed system when you have two teams of this quality facing off a week away from the big prize. I would have loved to have the opportunity to keep it going, but it wasn’t in the cards. In a different time maybe we would have had a lesser opponent, but it wouldn’t have been the same. This is the way it was meant to be. We gave them everything they could handle and I’m proud of that. These guys (Vipers) are an outstanding club and that was a lot to grind out for seven games.”

A red-eyed, numb and classy Tomlinson choked back the tears as he discussed the agony of defeat.

“This is definitely the lowest of all blows,” said the 21-year-old native of Irma, Alta. “We’re 83 games in this year and we put far more effort into this than we’ve ever done before and to lose is definitely a heartbreaker.”

Tomlinson said the Spruce Grove dressing room was rather surreal.

“It’s pretty quiet in there. Pretty silent. A few tears being shed. No words can explain it right now. It’s just a tough time.”

The gritty Tomlinson realizes his teammates will be soulmates for life after a record-setting season.

“What we’ve done is awesome and I’m super proud of the guys and the effort and battle and fight they all have, but the ultimate goal was to go to the RBC and win it of course and we came up short.”

Defenceman Wes McLeod, exchanged hugs with the Jones twins – teammates for Team West in the World Junior A Hockey Challenge last November – in the handshake. The 20-year-old Kamloops product who will play NCAA in Anchorage, Alaska next fall, had a strong game, skating well and making some pinpoint outlet passes.

“I haven’t felt this numb in my entire life,” said McLeod, 15 minutes after the loss. “It’s a tough feeling, it’s tough to swallow. He (Hamilton) hasn’t really said much to us. Everybody’s kind of down in the dumps right now but I’ve never been part of a team this close before in my entire life and we stick by each other the best we can. They’re a good team over there and the game could have went either way.”