Voth Blanks Vees:

This is posted on the Vipers website:

Voth blanks Vees

by Don Klepp | Added 2010-10-23

Playing behind a solid defence, Blake Voth made key saves on the penalty kill to backstop the Vipers to a comprehensive 5-0 win in Penticton.

Five Vipers shared the scoring, starting with Patrick McGillis’s tip of a Malcolm Lyles point shot 1:45 into the game. The Vipers “60” line of 20-year-olds Bryce Kakoske, Kyle Murphy, and David Robinson dominated the first shift. The momentum that their spirited play generated carried over for most of the first period.

Following a McGillis penalty at 11:35, the Vees worked their way back into the game for a while, but the Vipers regained their momentum with a power play goal at 17:37. From the left point Adam Thompson blasted Steve Weinstein’s soft pass over Joel Rumpel’s catching glove.

The Vees regained some composure during a second period that was characterized by defensive play. It was fitting that the only goal of the middle frame was scored short handed. The Vee power play has been strong at home this season, operating at 32 percent before Friday night.

However, the Vipers blanked the Vee power play five times in this game. Blake Voth made two fine saves while Aaron Hadley was in the box, and the puck was cleared to the Vee zone. Trevor Fitzgerald stole the puck from Toy Stecher behind the Vee net and flipped it out front to Kyle Murphy whose first attempt popped up. He then batted it out of the air past Rumpel.

The Vipers seemed content to shepherd the game home in the early parts of the final period, but their dominance of the neutral zone led to two more goals. At 6:41, rookie Marcus Basara showed the poise of a veteran as he collected a rebound of a Malcolm Lyles shot and calmly deked the goalie before roofing the puck.

At that point, Fred Harbinson replaced Rumpel with Billy Faust, who surrendered one goal the rest of the way.

That goal resulted from Darren Nowick’s hustle. The puck was dumped into the Vee zone and Nowick beat the Vee D-man to the disk. He then waited for his line mates to arrive and fed Patrick McGillis. The rebound of McGillis’s one-time slap shot came to Dylan Walchuk, who buried it.

Adam Thompson, who controlled play each time he was on the ice, was surprisingly omitted from the three star announcements. Voth garnered first star, followed by Aaron Hadley and Marcus Basara. Steve Weinstein and Malcolm Lyles, each with two assists, also had strong games on the Viper back end.

“This was one of our better efforts this year,” said Coach Jason Williamson after the game. “We skated and we competed for the puck in every area of the ice.”

Head Coach Mark Ferner had the last word, “As I said before the game, if Blake stops every shot, we’ll win the game. But this is just one game. We need to win tomorrow and Sunday, or this game means a lot less.”
With a full complement of Viper parents in attendance for Parents’ Weekend, the Viper players agree with their coach. “It’s exciting to have my mom here for these games,” said Todd Skirving, “but we have to focus on the main goal, which is to present her and the other parents with six points at the end of the weekend.”

Game Notes:

• The Vipers snapped the Vee winning streak at 7 games. Ironically, last year the Vees stopped the Viper 7-game winning streak to start the season.

• Mark MacMillan, who broke his wrist in the first game of the season, returned the Vees.

• Adam Thompson’s three goals have all come on the power play.

• Gus Correale, Colton Sparrow, and Philip Patenaude sat for the Vipers, while Chad Bannor, Jake Charles, and the injured Mark Hall were not in the Vee lineup.

• The Vees wore replicas of the Team Canada jerseys worn by the 1955 world champion Vees.

• With their win, the Vipers (21 points) moved within three points of the first-place Vees. In the tightly contested Interior Division, Trail has 23 points following a 7-3 win over Prince George. Meanwhile, Salmon Arm (22 points) recovered from four losses on their Island road trip, by beating Quesnel, 7-3.