Vipers Eliminate Warriors:

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Vipers eliminate Warriors

by Don Klepp | Added 2011-03-16

The Vernon Vipers used special teams to eliminate the Westside Warriors from the BCHL playoffs with a 2-1 win in West Kelowna Tuesday evening.

John Knisley’s short handed goal was the killing blow in a tightly played, defensive game.

With David Robinson in the penalty box, Kyle Murphy blocked a Westside dump-in at his blue liner and chipped the puck forward to Knisley, who raced down the right wing. He beat the Westside defender to the net and slipped a backhand under goalie Cole Holowenko at 12:41.

Holowenko, who had been pressed into service because of an injury to starter Kevin Boyle, was solid in the Westside goal, although he had to face only 17 shots. It was only the second time this season that the Vipers had been held to under 20 shots.

The Warriors rallied around their backup goalie, blocking lots of shots and preventing second chance opportunities. It was their best defensive effort of the six game series.

At the other end, Kirby Halcrow stopped 24 of 25 Warrior shots. His best work came during the first half of the second period, when the Warriors threw a relentless forecheck at the Vipers.

That pressure paid off with Max French’s goal at 6:16. French, Westside’s best player in this contest, won a puck battle near his team’s bench and moved into the Viper zone with two fellow attackers. His swift low shot beat Halcrow just inside Halcrow’s left goal post.

The Vipers had opened the scoring with a power play goal at 5:05 of the first period. Alex Grieve was serving two minutes for high sticking when Mike Zalewski dug out a puck deep in the zone and flicked it to Dylan Walchuk.

Walchuk’s perfect pass found Marcus Basara who was cruising through the slot. Basara’s one-timer zipped by Holowenko.

After the game, Coach Mark Ferner commented on the Westside effort and on the Vipers’ reaction to the tight checking.

“The Warriors played like a desperate hockey team, and some of our guys were a little anxious that the score was 1-1 at the end of the second. I reminded them that being tied going into the third period is not a bad thing when you’re on the road.”

He added, “Obviously Jason and I were delighted with our penalty killing, especially in the third. To win with a shortie is a bonus. That was a heckuva play by Knisley, but all of our penalty killers gave a strong effort.”

The Vipers scored once in four power plays, while the Warriors were blanked in their five chances with the man advantage. In the series, the Vernon went 7 for 30 while Westside scored 5 times in 24 power plays.
Each of the six games in the series was won by the team scoring the first goal, as it was in the Westside/Trail series. In winning the last three games, Vernon outscored Westside, 14-4.

Westside had 20-year-olds Alex Grieve, Kyle Singleton, Quinn Gould, Tyler French, and Matthew Maher play their final Junior hockey game. Also, the team expects to lose Grayson Downing, Tyler Brickler, Tom Kroshus, Izaak Berglund, Tyler Krause, Kevin Boyle, and Stefan Nicholishen to the U.S. college ranks.