I was born and raised in Vernon, BC and been watching/following junior hockey in Vernon my entire life. My family watched Senior men's hockey in Vernon in the 1950's and has been watching/following junior hockey in Vernon since Vernon got a team in 1961. I have two family members that played junior hockey in Vernon. I have had season tickets since 1990 missing 46 home games since. I have every program and ticket stub from every game going back to 1988. I worked with the Vipers as colour commentator during the 2002-03 season and in 2011 I helped create/design the Vipers website, that I was in charge of for five seasons. I started and created this blog in 2008 and have over 6 million viewers.
I was at tonight's Vernon Vipers-Powell River Kings game as the Kings won 6-5 in overtime in front of 1,708 fans at Kal Tire Place.
Starting Goaltenders:
Vernon Vipers: Jesse Sanche
Powell River Kings: Devin Peck
1st Period: The Vipers were the better team, carried and controlled most of the opening period. Vernon had a lot of puck possession, loads of time in the offensive zone and were getting lots of pucks to the net-creating lots of scoring chances. On the down side the Snakes defence struggled, gave up several odd man rushes and turned over pucks otherwise played a pretty good 1st period. The Kings didn't look very good, played a lot of the period chasing the puck and in their own end, gave up a lot of opportunities as their goaltender had to be sharp to make a handful of saves. Powell River didn't have a ton of puck possession but did get several odd man rushes, along side a couple of breakaways and kept the score close. It was 3-2 Vernon after 20 minutes of play. Shots were 18-8 Vipers.
2nd Period: The Kings jumped on the Snakes early and were by far the better of the two teams. Powell River carried the better of the play, had full control of the period, outskated and outhustled Vernon for most of the period. The visiting Kings played with a lot of jump, had more puck possession, more zone time, looked more hungry and capitalized on their opportunities. The hometown Vipers didn't show up and it showed on the ice. Vernon wasn't skating, turned over the puck lots, were losing the battles, saw a lot of time in their own end, were sloppy, not checking, had no jump or energy, looked very scrambled out there. The Snakes picked it up a bit towards the end of the period, were able to put together a couple of good shifts and play a little better late. The Kings would chase starting goaltender Jesse Sanche after allowing four goals on twelve Powell River shots. It was 5-5 after 40 minutes of play. Shots were 14-10 Vernon.
To continue reading, please click the "read more" button below,
