Vipers Hit Halfway Point On High:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Vipers hit halfway point on high

By Graeme Corbett - Vernon Morning StarPublished: November 30, 2008

The Vernon Vipers reached the midway point of the B.C. Hockey League regular season in style, recording a season-high eight goals as they doubled the Cowichan Valley Capitals 8-4 Friday night at Wesbild Centre.
The Vipers (20-7-1-2) dominated the Capitals (15-13-0-2) over the first 40 minutes, outshooting them 36-12 (51-24 overall), but got into penalty problems in the third frame and weren’t able to completely shut Cowichan down.
Mike Collins (10th and 11th goals) opened the Snakes’ account at 4:33, when he collected a rebound off the end boards and smacked a shot past Caps keeper Chris Rawlings.
The Vipers’ Braden Pimm (18th), on a great cross-ice feed from Adam Thompson, had time to read War and Peace before firing one past a helpless Rawlings at 6:54.
Announcer Wayne Buck didn’t even have a chance to announce Pimm’s goal before Vipers’ captain Chris Crowell (fifth and sixth) deflected a Steve Tresierra point shot just 19 seconds later, chasing the Caps keeper in favour of Taylor Pears.
“We knew they’d done a lot of traveling in the last two days, so we knew the start would be key,” said first star Crowell, whose play has picked up noticeably in November. “We wanted to get on them early and not give them a chance.
“It’s nice to see the pucks starting to go in, but I credit my linemates a lot – Pimmer (Pimm) and Mike (Collins). It’s easy to play with guys like that who read the ice and know the game so well.”
Added Caps’ head coach Scott Robinson: “You just can’t start the game like we did and get down 3-0. Vernon’s got a big, strong team and they made that asset work for them.
“You could see it (fatigue) in our guys, but in those situations you’ve gotta find a way to limit the damage. You’ve got to ward them off the first 10 minutes, and we didn’t do that.”
Kyle Bigos (fifth) welcomed Pears with a powerplay wrist shot through traffic with five seconds to play in the first.
The Vipers continued to roll in the second stanza with a solid forecheck and by driving the net. Even while shorthanded, the Vipers out-chanced the Caps.
The Vipers’ John Digness created a turnover and went in on a shorthanded 2-on-0, setting up second star Rob Short (sixth and seventh) for the first of his two goals.
Late in the second, the Caps’ Anthony Perdicaro took an extra whack at netminder Graeme Gordon (20 saves) after he covered the puck. Perdicaro earned an early shower after taking a misconduct (possibly for chirping)from referee Brett Barnes on the play.
The Caps’ Kevin Walrod (14th) snapped Gordon’s shutout bid on the powerplay at 3:13 of the third with a well-placed wrist shot under the crossbar.
“We played two games in two nights with a lot of traveling,” said Walrod, a former Westside Warrior. “It was their first game of the weekend, and they came out flying and we just sat back on our heels and let them get a couple quick ones and lost the momentum.
“They’ve played like this for three years in a row now, and I try to tell the guys before the game how they play, but we just couldn’t come out how we wanted, and it hurt us.”
Crowell, shorthanded, Short, on a sweet cross-ice pass from Vipers’ d-man Kevin Kraus, and Collins completed Vernon’s attack.
Cowichan got goals from Taylor Holst (12th), Nick Anderson (fourth) and Zack Currie (sixth) to answer for the Capitals.
“It’s always a positive to light the lamp a few times,” said Robinson. “Had we held them off the board, it could have been 5-4 with an empty net situation.”
Added Vipers head coach Mark Ferner: “We continue to work hard, and we deserved the goals that we got.
“I was pretty happy with our effort for the most part, but I guess we took our foot off the pedal and got into penalty problems (in the third period). Giving up four goals in the third period I’m not too happy about.”
The Snakes visited the Penticton Vees (19-9-0-4) Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre and will host the Vees Friday at Wesbild.