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 today's game between the Vernon Vipers & Alberni Valley Bulldogs as the Vipers defeated the Bulldogs 4-2 in front of 2,007 fans at Kal Tire Place.
Starting Goaltenders:
Vernon Vipers: Jari Kykkanen
Alberni Valley Bulldogs: Colin Winn
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2nd Period: Another chippy/feisty period as both teams found ways to generate more offence. I thought the Bulldogs had a slight edge in play but Vernon went up by three goals with back to back goals a minute apart. Vipers starting goaltender Jari Kykkanen had to be sharp, made some big stops. It was 3-1 Vernon after 40 minutes of play. Shots were 12-11 Vipers.
3rd Period: It was all Bulldogs early and often as Alberni Valley had a ton of pressure early but unable to get pucks to the net. The Bulldogs had loads of puck possession in the offensive zone but the Snakes defence played well as nine minutes into the period and only one shot on goal, that was by the Bulldogs. AV pulled to within a goal before getting into penalty trouble and the Snakes regaining their two goal lead. Vernon played much better in the second half, had more of the edge in play. Jari Kykkanen made a couple of key saves and got some help from his goal posts as the Bulldogs hit the crossbar twice. The Vipers snap a six game losing streak with a rare victory, 4-2 over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, Shots were 8-8.
Vernon Vipers Top Performers:
Talan Blanck (1 goal & 1 assist) Played well in the Vipers win. Blanck hit the post on a 2nd period breakaway has been one of the better and more offensive players since coming to Vernon. Blanck has some wheels, brings speed and offence to the Snakes lineup
Kyren Gronick (1 goal & 2 assists) Was another forward who played well this evening.
Jari Kykkanen (24 saves) Was the busier of the two goaltenders, played well as he has all season. Gave his team a chance to win, made some big saves as well as some key saves with the Bulldogs pressing. Kykkanen also got lucky with the Bulldogs hitting the crossbar twice in the 3rd period
Game Thought's: Vernon Vipers
- Since the 2003-04 regular season, the Vipers are 23-4-3-1 vs the Alberni Valley Bulldogs
- The Vipers next game is Saturday vs the visiting Spruce Grove Saints
- The Snakes are 7-9-5-0 at Kal Tire Place this season
- This was a very chippy/feisty game with lots of altercations after the whistles
- I didn't think Vernon played that well in the 1st period. The Bulldogs were the better team but down 1-0. The Snakes looked sloppy, disorganized and struggled offensively, only getting seven shots and very limited opportunities
- Tonight's the first game of a two game home stand
- The Vipers went 1-4 with the man advantage
- For a team trying to push for the final playoff spot, they are playing no where near good enough hockey and no where near sixty minutes. This team has struggled all season and has yet to improve this season and that's what's frustrating
- The Snakes have lost four of their last five games and lost eight of their last ten games
- One of the smaller crowds of the season tonight
- Vernon has nine games remaining in the regular season
- The hometown Vipers would get two big goals in the 2nd period to jump out to a 3-0 lead in a period where they played much better then the 1st period but in a period where the Bulldogs had a slight edge in play. The Snakes did managed to generate a little more offence, were able to get more pucks to the net and score two goals this period
- The Vipers have five wins in their last twenty three games
- This was a terrible game and hard to watch. It was like watching a pond hockey game. Both teams didn't look good or play good. Both teams were sloppy, missing passes, stumbling around, losing sticks, bumping into one another etc
- Vernon is ten points back of the Okotoks Oilers for the final playoff spot
- The Vipers were lucky, they almost blew a 3-0 lead. Alberni Valley jumped on Vernon early and often to start the 3rd but the Bulldogs struggled to get pucks to the net and generate offence as the Vipers defence played well. Vernon needed ten minutes to get a shot on goal, played most of the first half of the 3rd in their own end. Jari Kykkanen was good in goal. Shortly after the Bulldogs got to within a goal, Tyson Zimmer regained Vernon's two goal lead on the power play as the Snakes played better to finish the period. Another chippy/feisty period
- Tonight's attendance was announced at 2,007
- I thought Vernon had a much better team overall to start the 2024-25 season, but the Vipers have more skilled/offensive players on the team as of today compared to earlier in the season
- The Snakes have only five regular season home games remaining
- I haven't liked the schedule in years. We should be seeing every team play at least once within a season
- With the win, Vernon improves to 13-26-6-0 sit 10th in the Interior Conference and 19th overall in league standings
Alberni Valley Bulldogs Top Performers:
Jacob Terpstra I thought was one of the better forwards in the loss this evening. Was involved in the play and seemed to make plays happen
Grayson Badger Played well for the Bulldogs, finished his checks, played hard, battled, competed, was in the face of a few Vipers, skated well and seemed to be always involved in the play
Game Thought's: Alberni Valley Bulldogs
- Tonight's the first game of a two game road trip
- The Bulldogs have just one win in their last eleven games in Vernon
- Alberni Valley has lost three of their last five games and lost six of their last ten games
- I thought the Bulldogs were the better team in the 1st period. AV carried a lot of the play, had more zone time, more puck possession but were down a goal. This was a very chippy period with lots of altercations after the whistle. Both teams struggled offensively in a sloppy/disorganized period from both sides
- The Bulldogs went 0-2 with the power play
- I spotted one Bulldogs fan in attendance
- Alberni Valley is 10-12-1-0 on the road this season
- The Bulldogs last regular season win in Vernon, was a 4-3 victory on December 8th 2012
- I thought the Bulldogs had a slight edge in play in the 2nd period, but giving up back to back goals a minute apart, cost the team as AV was down 3-0 midway through the period. Alberni Valley had some chances, were getting pucks to the net but Jari Kykkanen played well in goal for Vernon. Another feisty/chippy period as these two teams didn't like each other
- The Bulldogs next game is Saturday in Penticton
- Alberni Valley has nine games remaining in the regular season
- This was the Bulldogs first game at Kal Tire Place since 2020 as the Bulldogs and Vipers played at Kal Tire Place North last season
- I wasn't overly impressed with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs. For a team in the middle of the pack in the Coastal Conference, playing one of the bottom teams in the Interior Conference, I was expecting a bit of a better team from the Bulldogs
- For two teams that only play each other once this season, this was a physical, yet chippy game with both teams getting under each others skin
- The Bulldogs jumped on Vernon early to start the 3rd, had a ton of pressure in the offensive zone for most of the first half but struggled to get pucks to the net and generate any kind of offence. Alberni Valley got to within a goal but shortly after gave up a PP goal, before getting into some penalty trouble and the Bulldogs lost the momentum as the Snakes were the better team to finish the period. AV did get a couple of good looks in the 3rd, hit the crossbar twice
- With the loss, Alberni Valley falls to 23-19-2-1 sit 6th in the Coastal Conference and 12th overall in league standings
Scratches:
Vernon Vipers:
Edvin Nilsson
Michael Munroe
Malcolm Baar
Brock Heidecker
Alberni Valley Bulldogs:
Cedricson Okitundu
Caden Tremblay
McCarthy Richardson
Energy Player of the Game:
Eric Johston
Three Star's:
1st Star: Kyren Gronick (1 goal & 2 assists)
2nd Star: Talan Blanck (1 goal & 1 assist)
3rd Star: Tyson Zimmer (1 goal)
Boxscore-Game Summary,
Game Report,
Text Box Score,
Vernon Junior Hockey History website,
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1 comment:
Just a thought about the top line having the top performers, while I agree they do look good offensively sometimes, they also got scored on twice, so finished even for the evening...only the second line finished +1
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