I was born and raised in Vernon, BC and been watching/following Junior hockey in Vernon my whole life. My family watched Senior men's hockey in Vernon in the 1950's and has been watching Junior hockey in Vernon since it started in 1961. I have two family members that played Junior hockey in Vernon. I have had season tickets since 1990 missing only 40 home games. Since 2001 I have missed 10 home games. I started and created this blog in November 2008 and have over 3 million viewers. For anyone who couldn't watch or attend tonight's Vipers game, here are my thoughts and views from tonight's hockey game. You may agree or disagree, but we all have our own opinion on the hockey game and see things differently. I try to be professional and give a fare game recap from both sides. Thank you for visiting my blog.
I was at tonight's game between the Vernon Vipers & West Kelowna Warriors as the Warriors defeated the Vipers 2-1 in front of 1,368 fans at Royal LePage Place.
Starting Goaltenders:
Vernon Vipers: Colin Reay
West Kelowna Warriors: Ayo Ogini
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2nd Period: Jack Pridham scores the game winner 3:34 into the middle frame on a goal Vipers starting goaltender Colin Reay would like to have back. The Vipers bench erupted after the goal, were very upset with the officials. The officials gathered for a quick discussion and ruled it a goal, while Vipers Head Coach Lukas Lomicky gave the officials an earful. West Kelowna was by far the better team and outplayed Vernon for most of the period. The Tribe had a ton of puck possession and zone time but give credit to the Snakes defence, didn't give up a ton of opportunities, keeping WK to the boards and outside, taking away time and space. The Warriors did get some good looks/chances but couldn't solve Colin Reay. Vernon looked very scrambled, couldn't make a pass, couldn't get much of anything going offensively, didn't see a whole lot of time with the puck. I thought Colin Reay played very well after giving up what I thought was a soft goal to start the period. This game had some edge to it as both teams got heated on a couple of occasions. It was 2-1 Warriors after 40 minutes of play. The Warriors went 0-2 with the man advantage, while Vernon went 0-1. Shots were 11-9 West Kelowna Warriors.
3rd Period: The Snakes responded with a much better period and I thought had a slight edge in play in the final frame. For the first time in the hockey game, Vernon had more puck possession, zone time, couldn't solve Ayo Ogini. Tempers heated up with Jack Pridham ran over Colin Reay that ended up putting the Snakes on the PP. West Kelowna saw a lot more time in their own end, compared to the first two periods with both teams not getting a lot of shots on goal. The Warriors gave up some good looks/opportunities were bailed out by their goaltender or played well defensively. The Vipers would get Colin Reay to the bench with about 1:20 remaining but struggled to really get pressure deep in the offensive zone. The Warriors would hang on for the 2-1 victory. Shots were 5-5.
Vernon Vipers Top Performers:
Carson McGinley I thought had some step in his game, had his feet moving, was skating, tried to create/generate some opportunities
Jakub Galnor I thought stood out, seemed to always catch my attention. It seemed like everytime I looked #10 either had the puck or was doing something with the puck.
Colin Reay (25 saves) Making his second start of the 2024-25 season, played very well. I thought the Warriors second goal was soft and he would like that one back but other wise was solid between the pipes for the Snakes, keeping them in the contest at times
Game Thought's: Vernon Vipers
- If you include the Warriors 4-0 preseason win over the Vipers September 6th, West Kelowna is 2-0 vs Vernon
- I spotted several Vipers fans at tonight's game
- Vernon went 0-3 with the man advantage
- Defenceman Zhenya Miles played parts of two seasons with the Warriors from 2022-2024 was traded to Vernon February 9th 2024
- I love the new $600,000 video scoreboard that has been added to Royal LePage Place. This thing is massive, the detail and video is incredible. Lots of replays with many different camera angles.
- The Snakes next game is the teams home opener tomorrow night vs the West Kelowna Warriors
- I thought the Vipers didn't look very good to start the game, were outskated, outworked and outplayed for almost the first half of the 1st period, before playing better in the second half to end the opening frame. Vernon would give up a couple of quality chances early, were outshot 5-2 at one point, needed four minutes to get their first shot of the hockey game, would eventually open the scoring and had some good looks/chances in the second half
- Vernon's passing struggled through out tonight's game
- The Vipers have only two wins in their last eleven regular season games in West Kelowna
- Jack Pridham scored the game winning goal 3:34 into the 2nd period on a goal I think Colin Reay would like to have back. Pridham beat the Vipers netminder fivehole from well out
- Former Vipers defenceman Mitch Oliver was at tonight's game. Oliver played with the Vipers from 2014-2016
- The Snakes looked dissorganised at times and very scrambled at times
- The Vipers were outplayed, outworked, outskated and outhit in the 2nd period, a period where they didn't look good. Vernon struggled offensively in the middle frame, saw a lot of time in their own end, had troubles getting through the neutral zone, had troubles gaining puck possession and zone. I did think the Vipers defence did take away time and space, kept the Warriors to the outside/along the boards. Vernon may have been outplayed but limited the Warriors opportunities
- The Vipers have lost thirteen of their last sixteen regular season games vs the West Kelowna Warriors
- The Snakes can't score and don't have any goal scorers. The Vipers need to find someone that can put the puck in the net
- The Vipers PK was good tonight, keeping the Tribe's power play off the scoreboard
- After starting the 2024-25 regular season on a three game road trip, Vernon plays four of their next five games at home
- I thought Vernon responded with a much better effort/performance in the 3rd and had a slight edge in play in the final period. The Vipers didn't get a ton of shots on goal but for the first time this evening, had some puck possession, zone time. The Vipers had a couple of good looks/chances
- I know its early and its only been three games but the Vipers have some work to do and need to play much better then they have these first three games
- Vernon's power play struggled, gave up two shorthanded breakaways and a couple of quality opportunities
- With the loss, Vernon falls to 0-3 and sits last place in the Interior Conference
West Kelowna Warriors Top Performers:
Landon Hilditch who was named Captain earlier today, played with an edge, had something in for the Vipers as he was hitting anyone in sight, laid out a few cheap shots, was involved in the after the whistle activities often, was under the skin of the Vipers all night
Elias Callgren Was one forward who caught my attention early and was one of the more dominant forwards for West Kelowna tonight. The Vipers didn't seem to have an answer for this monster
The line of Jack Pridham (1 goal), Callum Hughes (1 assist) & Caden Kemkaran-Humble looked good, gave Vernon defenders all kinds of difficulties. This line played with pace, speed, skill was very strong in the win
Carter Oakenfold (1 goal) Was another forward that I thought looked good but played very well. This kid can skate, move the puck, has some speed, was hard to defend/contain
Ayo Ogini (21 saves) Played well in goal for the Tribe. Both goaltenders played well. Ogini is listed at 6'6 226lbs covers a lot of the net. I thought struggled at times with his positioning and rebounds but made the saves when called upon
Game Thought's: West Kelowna Warriors
- The Warriors went 4-1-0-0 vs the Vipers during the 2023-24 season
- A great turnout for the Warriors home opener! This was by far the biggest regular season crowd I have seen at a Warriors game. Tonight's attendance was announced at 1,368
- These two teams will play again Saturday in Vernon
- Warriors Head Coach/GM Simon Ferguson played with the 2004 Kelowna Rockets Memorial Cup winning team
- The Warriors went 0-3 with the power play
- Defenceman Roarke Gilmour started the season in Vernon after signing with the Vipers August 15th 2024 was recently removed from the teams roster sometime this week, made his Warriors debut tonight
- West Kelowna has a big and I mean big team. This team is loaded with size
- The Tribe is very quick, can move the puck, have a good transition game
- The Warriors were the better team. I thought WK was the better team at least in the first half of the 1st period, were by far the better team in the 2nd period, were all over the Vipers, outskated, outworked and outplayed Vernon for most of the period. The Warriors played well defensively in the 3rd sat on a 2-1 lead, only gave up five shots to hang on to that 2-1 lead for the 2-1 final score
- Forward Jack Pridham was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks
- I wish the officials would start giving penalties out to the Warriors bench for all the arguing and complaining they do almost every shift. This has been going on since Simon Ferguson was named Head Coach/GM. It gets a little tiresome watching the West Kelowna bench argue calls/plays every shift over and over and then get very animated before screaming at the officials
- The Warriors play seven of their next ten games on the road
- West Kelowna has ten players returning from the 2023-24 season
- Roarke Gilmour made his Warriors debut but didn't see a ton of ice time
- This was a physical/feisty game at different times with both teams tempers flaring up
- With the win, West Kelowna improves to 1-1-1-0 sit 7th in the Interior Conference
Scratches:
Vernon Vipers:
Carter Streek
Charlie Kresl
Keeghan Dunn
West Kelowna Warriors:
Brady Flynn
Kaiden Schaupmeyer (suspended)
Kelsen Podworny
Zack Ferris
Energy Player of the Game:
Landon Hilditch
Three Star's:
1st Star: Ayo Ogini (21 saves)
2nd Star: Jack Pridham (1 goal)
3rd Star: Carter Oakenfold (1 goal)
Boxscore-Game Summary,
Game Report,
Text Box Score,
Vernon Junior Hockey History website,
Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions in the comment box below. Please be respectful when leaving comments.
1 comment:
I watched on flo hockey. Sadly the second WK goal was clearly offside by not one but two WK players. One tried to get back to the blue line and the other was several feet over. This was obvious especially on the replays. We deserve better reffing especially when video recall can be used.
Not saying it would have made a difference in the end but if certainly made a difference on the flavour of the game.
Also, the videotron was closer to 300,000 and the rest was for other upgrades. Check the game replay and see the vast improvement on cameras. So much better than the single camera going left and right.
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