Vipers Win Rematch:

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Vipers win rematch

by Don Klepp | Added 2010-12-04

To quote Yogi Berra, it was déjà vu all over again, as the Vipers and Westside Warriors met for the second straight night. In many respects, the two games were carbon copies of one another, but on Saturday David Robinson’s overtime goal gave the Vipers a 3-2 win.

The first period started again with a flurry of penalties and again the Vipers took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, courtesy of a Dylan Walchuk power play goal.

At 11:03, Walchuk beat Kevin Boyle with a shot from the top of the faceoff circle, a spot from which he had beaten Boyle the previous evening.

Six penalties were called in the first period by Mike Boisvert, three to each team. The calls included checking from behind and a game misconduct to Malcolm Lyles, which reduced the Viper D corps to four: Adam Thompson, Steve Weinstein, Philip Patenaude, and Brett Corkey.

Max Mowat again missed the game with an injury, as did AP Turner Lawson, who was hurt the previous evening.

The Warriors, who lost Isaac Berglund and Michael King to injury on Friday, had just five defencemen, although forward Dru Morrison was drafted into that role as he had on Friday.

To keep the eerie parallels going, the Warriors scored twice in the second period, to take a 2-1 lead into the third.

Brett McKinnon equalized at 8:41, as he deflected a Matt Cronin point shot past Kirby Halcrow. Cronin was able to get the shot off because of a Brett Mulcahy faceoff win.

Then, the potent Westside power play went back to work. During a wild scramble in front of Halcrow, Max French poked in a loose puck.

Later in the middle frame, Halcrow made a sensational save for his new team. Quinn Gould swept in on a partial breakaway and made a fiendishly clever backhand-to-forehand move to put Halcrow spinning backward, but the big netminder somehow got his left arm on the puck as he sprawled in the crease.

Although the Vipers out shot their hosts 14-8 in the period, the Warriors had the better scoring chances and deserved their lead.

However, the script remained the same as the previous evening as undisciplined play by the Warriors resulted in two Viper two-man advantages in the third period. They capitalized on the second opportunity when Bryce Kakoske fired a rocket over Kevin Boyle’s right shoulder at 13:51.

So, again the Vipers equalized late in the game and again the match went to overtime, with both goalies playing well throughout the game.

This time, however, the script changed when Bryce Kakoske came over the blue line and saw that David Robinson had some room on the right side. Robinson’s laser went under the cross bar and immediately exited. The red light did not go on, but referee Mike Boisvert consulted with his linemen and confirmed that a goal had been scored.

Westside coach, Darren Yopyk, was incensed but the Vipers felt that justice had been served, especially after the officials had failed to recognize a similar apparent goal fired by Dylan Walchuk in the first period.

With the win, the Vipers now have 39 points, to move into third place in the BCHL’s Interior Division, one point ahead of Westside and Trail. Penticton leads with 45 points, following a weekend sweep of Merritt, while Salmon Arm’s 42 points are good for second spot, after a 4-2 loss to Surrey at home.

Fresh from wins in Trail and Salmon Arm, Surrey will play in Vernon on Sunday afternoon.