Bulldogs Fight For Draw In Alberni Valley:

This is posted on the Vipers website:

Bulldogs fight for draw in Alberni Valley

by Don Klepp | Added 2010-12-12

Goaltending and penalty killing wrote the story as the home town Alberni Valley Bulldogs and Vernon Vipers fought to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.

Frank Slubowski and Kirby Halcrow were very good and occasionally sensational in goal for their respective clubs, especially in overtime.

Halcrow helped his team weather a four-minute high sticking call to Malcolm Lyles that was called by a linesman at 1:36 of the first overtime period. Lyles’s stick ran up Casey Bailey’s stick and clipped the Bulldogs’ leading scorer.

Slubowski’s best saves came in overtime. Before the Lyles penalty, the Vipers controlled play and Slubowski guessed right on a David Robinson one-timer that was destined for paydirt.

After the Vipers killed the Lyles penalty, they went back on offence, but labeled shots by Adam Thompson and Dylan Walchuk could not beat Slubowski, who anticipated the shot locations.

Viper Assistant Coach Jason Williamson admitted after the game that, “Yes, Slubowski made some really good saves, but to be honest we made him look good at times by not picking the corners.”

Slubowski and Halcrow were among the three stars and they deserved their nods. However, on balance the outcome of this game was decided by superb penalty killing.

The Vipers failed on all eight of their power plays, while the Bulldogs got their lone goal on one of their five chances.

The two teams approached the PK somewhat differently. The Bulldogs were very aggressive, going to challenge the puck at every turn. As a consequence, the Vipers generated just four scoring chances with the man advantage.

The Viper PK used a slightly different strategy, keeping the Bulldogs to the outside and using their quickness to fill shooting lanes. The Viper defenders had their finest hour in the extended overtime penalty, holding the Bulldogs to two shots on goal during the four minutes.

The Bulldogs did have some chances at half open nets, but either their shots were blocked or they missed the net. Perhaps their best chance fell to defenceman Kenney Morrison, who blasted a shot over the net.

However, a power play goal sent the game to overtime. At 0:52 of the third period, Casey Bailey’s low shot found its way through a maze of legs and sticks and beat Kirby Halcrow through the five-hole.

After a tight-checking, scoreless first period, the Vipers opened the scoring at 8:49 of the second period when Darren Nowick picked up a loose puck and deposited it in an open cage. Leading to the goal, Frank Slubowski had put himself out of position when he failed to corral the puck 10 feet in front of his net.

Although referee Steven Bratt credited Mike Zalewski with the goal, clearly Darren Nowick made the play, for his first BCHL goal.

To be honest, the inexperienced Bratt did not have a good game, calling some penalties that were marginal at best, and failing to recognize the severity of other infractions.

One particular instance came near the end of the first period when Tyler Berkholtz left his feet and slammed Viper defenceman Philip Patenaude into the end boards while Patenaude was in a vulnerable position.

Berkholtz got away with a two-minute boarding minor.

Patenaude, who suffered a concussion, did not return to the game. His absence meant that the Vipers, who started the game with five defencemen, were down to four D-men for the remainder of the contest.

On short notice, on Sunday afternoon they will now have to face the Nanaimo Clippers with those four rearguards because Max Mowat and AP Turner Lawson are also injured.