Spruce Kings Find Vipers Flat:

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Kings find Vipers flat

By Kevin Mitchell - Vernon Morning StarPublished: September 16, 2008 7:00 PM

Outside the Vernon Viper dressing room, one young fan approached Chris Crowell and asked if he was Andrew Hammond. Once informed of who was who, the fan innocently asked, "Did you play tonight?"Crowell smiled, as he put on his dress shoes, and walked away, a frustrated captain of a team which had just giftwrapped a 3-1 victory to the Prince George Spruce Kings in B.C. Hockey League play before 1,954 stunned eyewitnesses. The young fan's question could have been put to most of the Vipers Saturday night at Wesbild Centre."It was a pretty frustrating game," said Crowell. "We have the makings to be a very good team this year. I think everybody believes that, but you just don't lace on your skates, and go out there and they give you the two points. You have to go out and earn it, and tonight the preparation wasn't there, and it cost us two points."The Spruce Kings, who lost 6-3 to the previously winless Merritt Centennials Sunday afternoon, mustered just 14 shots on the Vipers, who showed all the jump of a showdog stricken with the flu. For most of the night, it was hard to tell which team had taken a nine-hour bus ride, and the Viper intensity level came in at about a meagre two out of 10.Vernon took just eight penalty minutes, including a double minor for spearing to Braden Pimm with Prince George up 2-1. Rookie Michael Nardi made it 3-1 on the powerplay with seven seconds left in the second period, and it was pretty much gave over.The Vipers outshot the Spruce Kings 5-3 in the third period as fans kept waiting for some emotion, a big hit, a crash to the net, anything to ignite the offence."It's early which is good, but at the same time, those could be the two points that catch up to you at the end of the year when you're in the hunt for whatever place you're looking for," said Crowell. "I don't know what it was tonight. It was a bad effort, definitely one of the worst I've been a part of. It was embarrassing. We got outplayed by an average team. If we want to start calling ourselves a contender, we better start acting like it."The Spruce Kings celebrated the surprise win with the usual post-game rugby song. The Vipers, meanwhile, listened to their coaches for about 15 minutes."I'm pretty happy," said Prince George captain Zach Davies. "That's a good start for us, and I think that's really key with a young team like ours. We've got a lot of solid kids in there. I think we're going to have a good year. We're pretty optimistic about it, and pretty excited."Davies, who drew the assist on Nardi's goal, expected a fierce battle from the Vipers after a pair of easy opening-weekend wins over the Cents."I thought it was going to be a good test for our team. Our first two games against Merritt were so-so. We didn't play very well but we came out with big wins so I didn't know how the younger guys would react against a team that came hard like Vernon."Getting the lead was a key because we were reeling in the first period. We broke out, we got the goal and then from there on, we held our own and played well I thought. I think the first one knocked the wind out of them a bit, and from there, they were trying to play catch-up."Towering Minnesota product Sean Ambrosie swiped an errant pass at the Prince George blueline, and skated in alone on goalie Mark Segal, making a sweet deke at 2:17 of the second period.Veteran Sam Muchulla netted his fourth of the season three minutes later, roofing a wrister from in tight, with Mike Collins off for hooking.John Digness got the Viper goal with eight minutes left in the second period, assists going to Rob Short and Kyle Bigos.Right winger Ryan DePape made his Viper debut after a four-year stint in the Western Hockey League, playing on a line with Collins and Connor Jones. The trio were creative, but couldn't get a bounce. DePape wasn't about to call the Crisis Line after the loss."You lose some sleep at night losing games like those, but at least it's early in the season and we can learn from our mistakes now. We can't let those ones get away anymore."On his play, after playing in just one WHL exhibition game weeks ago: "I felt not bad. I started getting into the groove of things. I'm close...We had opportunities and it was frustrating. We found each other a few times, we just didn't have the finish that we needed tonight."DePape, a Winnipeg product whose grandparents just happened to be visiting the Okanagan, and took in the game, will bring the Vipers loads of upside in leadership, experience and offence. He doesn't know a soul on the team, but hardly feels like a rookie."Guys are guys wherever you go. There's a good group of guys here. You just get to know the names is all. I thought it was pretty good (pace) out there. Not too far off the Dub."The 2-1-0-1 Vipers, who rested Kellen Jones (slight injury), host the Westside Warriors Friday night, and then visit the Salmon Arm SilverBacks Saturday night. The Quesnel Millionaires clipped the SilverBacks 3-2 Saturday for a weekend sweep.