Vipers Continue To Frustrate Vees:

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Vipers continue to frustrate Vees

by Don Klepp | Added 2010-09-18

Dylan Walchuk, the game's second star, gets tripped up (Roger Tepper photo)

On Friday night, the Vipers picked up where they left off in March, beating the Penticton Vees 3-2 at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

The Vipers dominated early, mounting rush after rush. They out shot the Vees 10-1 in the first 16 minutes and grabbed a 2-0 lead. Then, after a Dylan Walchuk penalty, the Vees registered the next five shots and scored a power play goal.

Penticton continued to take the play to the Vipers in the early stages of the second, but Blake Voth made several excellent stops to keep the Vipers ahead. Gradually, though, the Vipers held their own in the tight game’s territorial battle.

After jumping out to a 3-1 lead at the beginning of the third period, the Vipers focused on protecting their lead, and so the Vees were able to fire 11 shots at Blake Voth, while the Vipers were content with 4 shots in the closing period.

Here’s how the goals were scored:
• 6.57, period one. John Knisley picked up a loose puck at the Vee blue line and swept around defenceman Tyler Hlookoff. Once past the former Edmonton Oil King, Knisley went hard to the net, where he slipped the puck inside Joel Rumpel’s left goal post. The modest Knisley was excited to notch his first BCHL goal, but his first thought was “I was just relieved that we scored the first goal in this game after playing well early in the game.”
• 7:42, period one. After Rumpel was unable to control an Adam Thompson point shot at the side of the goal, Kyle Murphy and Patrick McGillis freed the puck for the third member of the “Irish Assassin” line, Trevor Fitzgerald, who banged it in from five feet.
• 16:42, period one. Joey Holka finished off a Vee power play from the high slot as his low shot found its way through a maze of players in front of Blake Voth.
• 1:33, period three. Marcus Basara collected a puck deep in the Vee zone and zipped a pass for Dylan Walchuk to convert from 10 feet.
• 19:54, period three. With Rumpel on the bench for an extra attacker, the Vees directed several shots at Blake Voth. From a scramble, 16-year-old Troy Stecher swatted in a rebound to cap a strong game by this impressive rookie.

Stecher was one of several BCHL rookies to play well. John Knisley earned the game’s first star with a strong two-way performance. His line mates, Mike Zalewski and Aaron Hadley, kept pace with the
energetic Knisley. Both of the big wingers threw some thumping hits.

On the Viper blue line, Brett Corkey controlled play and Taylor Love, who dressed as an affiliated player, had a solid game. Philip Patenaude has his best game as a Viper as he amped up his physical play.

Joey Benik, who has the Minnesota high school goal scoring record (63 goals last year), looked dangerous when he was on the ice. Bradley Robbins and James Polk showed flashes of the form that has scouts following their development.

The Vipers welcomed the return of Adam Thompson, who used his experience to thwart a number of promising Vee attacks. He seem fully recovered from the concussion that caused him to miss the first two games this season.

Kyle Murphy also returned from injury. He won 10 of 12 faceoffs, played well defensively, and contributed an assist on Fitzgerald’s goal.

The best Vee was captain Derik Johnson, who has become an aggressive, effective defender in his third BCHL season. He recorded 6 of the Vees’ 20 hits.

The 38 Viper hits were evenly distributed among several Vipers, with the Irish Assassin line prominent with 10 solid checks.

The two teams resume hostilities in Vernon Saturday night, when the Vipers will retire Rob Short’s number 20.