Robinson Pots Another OT Winner:

This is posted on the Vipers website:

Robinson pots another ot winner

by Don Klepp | Added 2010-12-05

For the second time in 19 hours, David Robinson scored an overtime winner for his Vernon Vipers as they beat the visiting Surrey Eagles, 2-1.

At 3:53 of the second overtime period, Steve Weinstein took a pass from Dylan Walchuk in the Viper zone and cruised down the left wing. Meanwhile, Robinson hustled on the right side to catch up with Weinstein.

Seeing his captain head for the net, Weinstein made heads-up play. As he described it after the game, “I saw Dave going hard to the net, so I fired for the goalie’s left pad, hoping that Dave would get it.”

The play worked as Robinson put the rebound on net. Karel St-Laurent was there, but Robinson picked it out of mid air as he went by the net.

St-Laurent, who was named second star in the game, had his second strong outing for the Eagles in two weeks, stopping 48 of 50 shots.

Like the Vipers’ Blake Voth, St-Laurent was solid in the overtime periods, but perhaps his best save came in the second period when he robbed Robinson point blank after Zach McPhee had found Robinson with a nifty back pass from the side of the net.

Voth made an all-world save on Brad McGowan in the first overtime period. McGowan had time to pick the top corner and he fired a high hard shot, but Voth’s lightning fast glove denied the BCHL’s top goal scorer.

The game ended with an exciting third period followed by intense overtime action, but it didn’t start that way. The two teams showed the effects of playing three times in 42 hours as they cruised though a sleepy opening frame.

The Vipers, as is their wont, outshot the Eagles in the first, but the teams generated only one scoring chance each.

The pace picked up in the second period, which was won by the Vipers as they scored on one of their 18 shots on goal.

At 6:55, Patrick McGillis blocked out an Eagle defender, which allowed McGillis the room to deflect a low Brett Corkey shot past St-Laurent.

A Dale Hunt deflection tied the game in a lively third period. During a power play, point men Riley Sweeney and Steve Koshey exchanged passes. Then, Koshey shot and Hunt’s deflection went high into the net.

There wasn’t much physical play in the first two periods, but the Vipers registered 15 hits and the Eagles threw 10 in the third period.

Shots were 12 to 5 in favour of the Vipers in the final regulation 20 minutes, but the Eagles’ top ranked power play (19.57 percent on the road) made the Vipers pay for a check from behind penalty issued to Aaron Hadley.

Many of the 1462 fans in attendance must have thought about going home to rearrange their sock drawers during the first two periods, but they got their money’s worth in the final 28:53.

Hats off to both teams for their strong efforts as the contest wore down. The Eagles played with 14 skaters because of an illness that had swept through the team. They dressed just four defencemen.

The Vipers also had some tired blueliners as they played their third overtime contest in a row. The previous evening, they had only four defencemen – Thompson, Weinstein, Corkey, and Patenaude – all of whom logged significant minutes in Westside.