Vipers Regain Winning Touch:

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Vipers regain winning touch

by Don Klepp | Added 2012-01-15

Sterling performances by two of the Vernon Vipers’ supporting cast led them to a 6-2 home win over Coquitlam on Saturday, snapping a four-game losing streak and Coquitlam’s eight-game winning streak.

Brendan Persley doubled his goal total for the year with a hat trick and Danny Todosychuk sparkled in net, stopping 43 of 45 Express shots.

Although the Express dominated the second period as the Vipers went into a shell after mounting a 4-0 first period lead, the visitors could get only two goals past Todosychuk.

John Siemer scored two beauties in a 23-second span, starting at 13:14. Both of the Californian’s goals were set up by Alex Kerfoot, the diminutive young Express sparkplug. The first came from a faceoff win by Kerfoot. Siemer’s slap shot gave Todosychuk no chance.

Following the subsequent faceoff at centre, the puck went into the Coquitlam zone, where Kerfoot retrieved it and sped up ice. He found Siemer streaking down the right wing; Siemer’s immediate high wrist shot zipped into the top corner.

Even though the Express dominated the shot totals in the second and third periods, the final scoring chances were nearly identical for the two teams. The Vipers converted nearly half of their chances, including their first two opportunities early in the game.

Just 61 seconds into the contest, Mike Zalewski buried a rebound past starting goaltender Cole Huggins. With linemates Darren Nowick and John Knisley sidelined with injuries, Zalewski played right wing on a line with Adam Tambellini and Colton Sparrow. That line clicked again at 2:42, when Tambellini snapped a one-timer past Huggins after being set up crisply by Zalewski.

Then, at 3:09, Colton Cyr notched his first as a Viper, snapping a shot over Huggins’s left shoulder.

Brendan Persley continued the shock wave, burying a loose puck from the high slot at 15:31. At that point, Huggins was lifted for Khaleed Devji, who held the Vipers at bay until the third period. Devji had little work in the second period as the Vipers seemed content to sit on their lead.

However, he was victimized by Persley’s brace of goals in the final 20 minutes. Persley dispossessed Josh Finkelstein at the Express blue line and went in alone on Devji, whom he beat by jamming the puck through the slight goaltender’s pads.

The hat trick marker came late in the game as Persley slammed in Turner Lawson’s feed on a 2-on-1 break. Lawson had an eventful evening, registering his first two BCHL points by drawing assists on Persley’s first and third goals and fighting Mitch Nardi in the first period.

Lawson and Persley had been two-thirds of a line that had played well the previous evening in Merritt. However, in this game they lost their centre, Jedd Soleway, who was tossed for checking from behind early in the first period.

With the score 3-0 at the time, the Vipers killed off Soleway’s five-minute major, allowing several shots but just one quality scoring chance during the five minutes. For the most part, they kept the league’s second best power play to the outside and allowed few second chances off rebounds.