Vees Bury Vipers:

This is posted on the Vipers website:

Vees bury Vipers

by Don Klepp | Added 2011-11-23

After a dominating first period, the Penticton Vees cruised to a 6-1 win over the Vipers in Vernon on Wednesday.

Two Viper giveaways in their zone fueled the Vees’ three-goal outburst in the first period, but in truth the outcome of this game was never in doubt as the Vees outworked their hosts for much of the game.

Vernon, which has now lost four games in a row while the Vees have won seven straight, rallied in the second period with physical play, but still surrendered the only goal of the middle frame, a power play goal by Mike Reilly.

The Vees out shot the Vipers 13-5 in the opening 20 minutes, partly as a result of three Penticton power plays.

On the night, the Vees’ potent power play scored three times in nine chances while the Vipers failed in their three opportunities with the man advantage. The second Vee goal came from excellent puck movement that Mario Lucia finished off at 9:18 of the first period.

The first goal resulted from a Marcus Basara miscue at his blue line. Steven Fogarty stole the puck and went in alone to rifle a low shot by Kirby Halcrow at 6:57. Another turnover at the Viper blue line led to Bryce Gervais’s first of two goals at 16:25.

Gervais got his second, his sixth goal in three games for Penticton since being traded from Salmon Arm, at 10:49 of the third. Then, Joey Benik, who had drawn assists on the two Gervais markers, got Penticton’s sixth goal at 15:22. Benik slipped behind the Viper defence and fired a rocket past Halcrow.

The Vipers ruined Michael Garteig’s shutout bid with a rebound goal with 46 seconds remaining in the contest.

The Vipers, who already had Patrick McGillis, Colton Sparrow, and Luke Juha on the injured list, went down another player when Ryan Renz went heavily into the boards in the first period.