SilverBacks Stuff Viper Comeback:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

SilverBacks stuff Viper comeback

Published: February 10, 2011

It was a post-mortem that would make a coroner queasy.

Vernon Vipers’ head coach Mark Ferner sat in his office Thursday morning dissecting the previous night’s B.C. Hockey League contest between the Snakes and host Salmon Arm SilverBacks at the Sunwave Centre. He wasn’t even halfway through the video and he had already counted 25 Viper turnovers.

Despite a three-goal, third-period rally, the Vipers fell 5-4, ending their regular-season series with the ‘Backs at a disappointing 1-6-0-1.

Vernon (33-11-4-8) holds a six-point lead over the second-place Gorillas (35-17-2-0) in the Interior Conference race for a first-round playoff bye.

“They have two games in hand, but it’s still in our hands. We have to make sure we’re heading in the right direction heading into playoffs,” said Ferner.

The Vipers entertain the Merritt Centennials tonight at Wesbild Centre. The two clubs have ventured into overtime in three of their four previous meetings. Vernon hammered the 20-28-1-6 Cents 6-0 in their most recent encounter last month.

The SilverBacks got off to a solid start Wednesday, taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission on goals by Brett Knowles (27th goal) and Brad Reid (21st).

The Vipers replied 35 seconds into the second frame after Salmon Arm netminder Kris Moore mishandled the puck, leaving hard-working Kyle Murphy (15th) with an open net. The Fair Haven, N.J. product chipped in with a pair of assists.

A trio of SilverBack goals by Devin Gannon (20th), Prince Albert Mintos grad Bryce Gervais (28th) and first star Reid (22nd) had the hosts up by four after 40 minutes.

“They have too many older, experienced, talented players. You can’t turn the puck over,” said Ferner, who pulled netminder Kirby Halcrow (21 saves on 26 shots) after the second period. Blake Voth recorded five stops in relief.

“The frustrating thing for me is we talk about these things. We understand there’s going to be mistakes, but when they’re not doing the things we ask them to do, that’s when I have concern.”

Jayson Reardon, a Lumby native, set up Reid’s second goal with a cross-ice feed on a late second-period powerplay.

“Both powerplays and PKs were pretty equal on the night. We just buried our chances more than they did theirs,” said Reardon.

The 20-year-old blueliner believes the additions of Reid, acquired in December from Coquitlam, and BCHL scoring leader Mike Hammond (85 points), picked up at the trade deadline from Cowichan Valley, have helped Salmon Arm’s rise up the Interior standings in the second half.

“Those two click together pretty good. It definitely gives us a solid top six,” said Reardon, who likes the way his team is looking heading down the stretch. Both Vernon and Salmon Arm are 8-2 in their last 10 games (both Viper losses were against the SilverBacks).

“It’s a big boost. Beating Vernon like that heading into playoffs is a big momentum builder for us,” added Reardon.

The Snakes tried to make a game of it with three straight goals in the third period, starting with a Dylan Walchuk (22nd) powerplay strike midway through the frame. Defenceman Malcolm Lyles (eighth), following up on a Vernon rush, ripped a shot past Moore (25 saves) from the top of the circle at 12:42. Max Mowat (second) completed the offence at 16:33.

“We let up a little bit. They started putting pressure on and we backed off,” said Reardon.