Snakes take swagger on road trip
By Kevin Mitchell - Vernon Morning Star
Published: October 18, 2013
They have reached the quarter turn and are showing strong signs of being the Royal Bank Cup contenders they are supposed to be.
Four straight wins, third-period scoring sprees, decent defensive play and almost a full and healthy roster. The Vernon Vipers start a three-game road swing tonight in Powell River against the B.C. Hockey League leading Kings (10-1-0-1) feeling pretty good about themselves.
In fact, alternate captain Josh Bryan, who anchored a solid back-end in a 6-3 victory over the Trail Smoke Eaters Tuesday night at Kal Tire Place, figures there is a swagger moving through the lineup.
“It’s more fun to come to the rink right now,” said the bruising Bryan, who unleashed some bombs from the point and cleaned house in front of net detective Danny Todosychuk. “When you’re losing, you’re kind of depressed and when you’re winning, swagger definitely comes in for sure. You come to the rink knowing that you’ve won four and you’re unstoppable basically. That’s how you feel.”
It was one of those gutsy team performances as the Snakes improved to 7-4-1-2 with their fourth straight win. Only the Langley Rivermen, with six in a row, were hotter. Langley lost 3-0 to the Chilliwack Chiefs Wednesday night.
Sniper Demico Hannoun, rated by NHL Central Scouting, made a brave shot block in the second period which clearly hurt big time. Playmaker Colton Sparrow took a Joel Webb clearance puck in the mouth late in the first period, losing one-and-a-half teeth. He returned wearing a full cage and scored the third Vernon goal.
Smokies’ hulking d-man Valik Chichkin took about eight steps and charged at Hannoun along the side boards with 2:08 remaining. Viper blueliner Riley Guenther quickly dropped the gloves and fought Chichkin in a quick, even tilt.
It was one of those games that brings teams closer. The road trip will show just how tight this bunch has become.
The Vipers visit the Nanaimo Clippers (5-7) Saturday night and battle the last-place Alberni Valley Bulldogs (1-11-2-1) in a Sunday matinee.
Sparrow, who has five points in six games since returning from a shoulder injury, likes what he’s seeing in the Viper den.
“I think we’ve made quite the turnaround. We’re getting secondary scoring, initial scoring, our dee core has tightened right up and we’re still in the process of playing 60. I think that’s the third game where we’ve scored three goals in under two minutes. We know when we turn it on, we can beat the best. It’s come along way for sure.”
Bryan, obtained in the trade for Aaron Hadley last winter, says the Vipers’ mental outlook is improving.
“We’re not giving up. It seemed like earlier on in the season we’d get deflated on the bench where now we’re excited to get it back. Obviously, in our last three, four games, it’s been evident because we’ve come back in the third period in three of the four games. It’s confidence and believing in ourselves.”
Vernon exploded with four goals early in the third period, including three in just 88 seconds. Trail lost its fifth in a row.
Guenther scored on a wrister from the right point, 2:19 into the third, for the 2-2 equalizer. Sparrow made it 3-2 three minutes later after some sweet pitch-and-catch with Hannoun.
Just 20 seconds after the go-ahead snipe, Mason Blacklock scored another beauty, his second of the night and 14th of the season, on a feed from Hannoun. Michael McNicholas finished the snipe show 68 seconds later on a gorgeous back-door play from Logan Mick.
Blacklock pushed it to 6-2 two minutes later on a gorgeous bang-bang play with Hannoun and Sparrow. The line of Blacklock (2+2), Hannoun (1+3) and Sparrow (1+1) clicked for 10 points.
The Vipers moved past the Salmon Arm SilverBacks into third place in the Interior Division, three points back of the second-place Penticton Vees. West Kelowna Warriors are one point ahead of the Vees.
Hannoun, on a rebound off a Jason Bird point shot, and Jake Kauppila of the Smokies, on a wrap-around, swapped first-period goals in a pretty fast-paced opening period for a week-night tilt. Tyson Witala of the Smokies (4-9-1-1) scored with 43 seconds left in the second period off a pass from Travis Stephens, who chased down a bad cross-ice offering by Bird intended for defensive partner Jared Wilson, with the teams playing four-on-four.
Todosychuk made a huge left pad stop on Witala’s shot from the low slot, but the puck bounced off his side and trickled into the net. The Smokies completed the offence with two seconds remaining when Trail product Jake Lucchini stepped out of the penalty box, took a stretch pass from Webb and beat Todosychuk with a slap shot from the mid-slot.
Vernon outshot Trail 38-28 with North Okanagan Knights’ grad Dustin Nikkel (3-7-1) suffering the loss. He had little chance on the Vipers’ final four goals.
The Vipers spent the final few minutes trying to set up d-man Michael Statchuk for his first BCHL goal.
“He had some good looks,” laughed Bryan. “He’s all over it too, he’s all over the puck. We give it to him pretty good. We don’t need him to score, but it’s just kind of funny when he’s trying.”
The Smokies, who had their head coach Bill Birks ejected midway through the third period, have given up a league-high 64 goals.
“We’ve been stressing that we have to work hard, do the simple things right, chip pucks, support each other and when we’ve been doing it, we’ve been doing it well,” said back-up goalie Adam Todd. “If we get away from our game-plan, games like tonight happen.”
Todd, a 19-year-old Courtenay product, is caddying for the 20-year-old Nikkel, who made his ninth straight start and took a raincheck for a post-game interview.
“He’s (Nikkel) doing all he can,” said Todd. “We support each other as much as we can and I know what he’s going through and I know what he’s going through when he’s in the net. We try and keep our heads high and stop pucks. Give Vernon credit, they scored three or four nice goals and there’s not much a goalie can do on those.”
Birks, meanwhile, was fired Wednesday by the Smokies.
“With the slow start to the season, the board felt it was time to make a change,” said Smoke Eaters’ president Tom Gawryletz. “We thank Bill for everything he has done during his three-and-a-half years with our club and wish him the best in the future.”
Assistant coaches Barry Zanier and Craig Clare will take over as interim head coaches.
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