Vipers Swamp Millionaires:

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Vipers swamp Millionaires

by Don Klepp | Added 2010-10-23

David Robinson’s three goals led the Vernon Vipers to an 8-1 win over the visiting Quesnel Millionaires on Saturday.

Two of those goals came in the first period, when the Millionaires put up a fight, only to fall behind by three goals.

Dylan Walchuk got the ball rolling for Vernon on an all-world whirl and twirl in front of surprise starter Adam Harris. At 12:29, he found the puck in between his feet. In one fluid motion, he gathered the puck, turned 180 degrees, and roofed it for his 9th of the season.

Robinson’s first goal wasn’t as pretty. Brett Corkey’s point went off Harris, then off Bryce Kakoske. In an interview following the game, Robinson said, “I don’t know if it went off my stick or my body, but a goal’s a goal, and I’ll take it.”

His next goal was a real back breaker for a plucky Quesnel squad because it came with 1.9 seconds left in the opening period. Realizing that time was running out, Darren Nowick hustled into the Quesnel zone and fired the puck. Robinson was at the goal mouth to deposit the rebound.

He completed the hat trick with a short handed goal in the second period. As a four-on-four sequence ended and Devin Balness exited the penalty box, Max Mowat chased down the puck in the puck and set up the Viper captain for a 10-foot shot that went in just under the cross bar.

Malcolm Gould got the Mills’ only goal with a nice shot just inside Blake Voth’s right post following a clean faceoff win by Justin Hogan.

However, the Vipers extended their lead to 7-1 in the second when Bryce Kakoske, Marcus Basara, and Trevor Fitzgerald scored.

Kakoske’s goal was of the bizarre variety. His slider, which was probably going wide, went in off Harris’s broken goal stick.

Basara converted a rebound of a Max Mowat point shot. Fitzgerald, who set up Mowat’s blast, then closed out the period with a beauty. Malcolm Lyles collected a puck at his own blue line and darted forward to the red line, where he spotted Fitzgerald open on the left wing. Fitzgerald’s screamer beat Harris high on the glove side.

In the third period, Rigby Burgart let his frustration get the better of him and he took a five-minute cross checking penalty. During the ensuing power play, Marcus Basara finished a fine four-way passing play when he shot a 20-footer into a half-open net.

Lost in the scoring barrage was another strong effort by Viper goalie Blake Voth, who made several fine pad saves.

Quesnel, outscored 15-3 in the two games this weekend, now moves on to Merritt for an afternoon affair on Sunday. Also on Sunday, the Vipers will entertain Prince George, who have dropped two games in Trail so far this weekend.