Stanwood Stymies Vipers:

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Stanwood Stymies Vipers
 
Sunday, September 30, 2012 - Submitted by Don Klepp

Trail’s Bill Birks has maintained that his goalies have been better than their record would indicate, and Lyndon Stanwood confirmed his coach’s opinion with a 33-save shutout that keyed a 3-0 victory over the Vernon Vipers in Trail on Saturday. 

Newly acquired defencemen Braden Pears and Marley Keca helped shore up Trail’s defence against a Viper squad that created 21 scoring chances but were unable to beat the diminutive goalie. He had some luck on his side as Adam Tambellini hit the cross bar in the second period. Tambellini also had a number of pucks roll past or bounce over his stick when he had Stanwood at his mercy.
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For the second straight night, the Vipers failed to capitalize on five power plays, while the opposition struck with the man advantage.

Trail went two for seven as the Vipers took a number of undisciplined penalties, mostly by Viper veterans.

The opening goal came early in the game. A lack of communication by Viper defencemen allowed Luke Sandler to cruise unimpeded out of the corner and stuff the puck past Joe Young at the far post at 1:41.

Young, who played very well in his first full BCHL game, later made a fine save on Garrett McMullen, who blew by Kevin Guiltinan on the right wing.

However, at 15:26 of the opening frame Young was beaten by Scott Davidson’s excellent snap shot. Playing the off wing on the power play, Davidson was left alone. Young came out to challenge the talented Trail rookie, but started to go into the butterfly and Davidson put the puck over Young’s left shoulder.

The third period began as a defensive struggle but the Vipers started to force the issue. Each time that they gained momentum, however, a penalty would negate that momentum. Following one of those penalties, a Ryan Renz boarding call, Trail scored its second power play marker at 13:52. Braden Pears’s point shot skewed off the back boards to Brent Baltus, who poked in his third goal of the year.  

The closing goal typified Viper frustration. Moments earlier, Aaron Hadley nearly had had a short handed breakaway, but the puck went on edge and rolled between his legs at the last moment, allowing Pears to collect it.

As Jason Williamson pointed out following the game, his team was guilty of trying to make the fancy play too often instead of simply going hard to the net and competing for the puck “in those hard areas.”

With the win, Trail now moves ahead of Vernon in the Interior Conference standings.