Vipers Double Smokies For Interior Lead:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Vipers double Smokies for Interior lead

The Vernon Vipers made it three straight Friday’s at Trail’s Cominco Arena with the same result – a B.C. Hockey League win, followed by a never-ending bus ride home.
The flu-ravaged Snakes got two goals from first star Cole Ikkala as they double the Smoke Eaters 6-3 before 9,23 fans to slither back into first place in the Interior Conference at 39-12-1-3.
Vernon came out strong, scoring three unanswered goals before Trail (25-26-2-2) answered with three of their own.
“We had lots of jump, but we had a little bit of a lapse,” said Vipers’ assistant coach Jason Williamson. “Going a day early probably helped our guys.
“But Trail played hard. That’s probably the best game we’ve had against them in a while.”
With referee Erik Laughton handing each team nine powerplays in what wasn’t an overly physical game, Williamson wasn’t surprised to see five of the nine goals scored on the man advantage.
Rob Short (15th goal), on a sharp angle while at 4-on-4, opened the scoring six minutes into the first, followed by Steve Weinstein’s first of the season at 9:18.
Weinstein was simply trying to dump the puck in on the powerplay, but it ended up hitting Trail netminder Paul Barclay in the chest and trickling into the net.
“He (Weinstein) came to the bench laughing,” said Williamson. “He’s been playing like the kid who made this team (at main camp). You can see he’s starting to figure it out.”
Weinstein, a 5-foot-9, 165-pound L.A. product, played in place of fellow Californian Kyle Bigos, who missed the trip with the flu. Bigos was expected to miss Saturday’s tilt with the Prince George Spruce Kings at Wesbild Centre as well.
Ikkala (seventh) padded the Vipers’ lead at 2:05 in the second after he blocked a shot in his own end, and converted on partial breakaway.
Brett Corcoran (20th) mounted Trail’s comeback midway through the second frame with a powerplay goal.
A shorthanded marker by Sean Nugent (12th) 43 seconds into the third stanza, followed by Nick Sandor’s 11th goal (powerplay) pulled the Smokies even at 5:04.
“You can’t spot Vernon a three-goal lead, but I’m glad we battled back and that we didn’t just roll over,” said Trail head coach Jim Ingram. “But any way you slice it, Vernon’s got a great team.”
The Vipers, who are 9-1 in their last 10 games, used powerplay goals less than a minute apart from Connor Jones (17th) and Ikkala (eighth) to ice the game. Mike Collins (23rd) added an empty-netter with 15 seconds remaining.
Vipers’ netminder Graeme Gordon recorded 18 saves for his 14th win, while Barclay made 33 stops in defeat.
The Snakes host the red-hot Penticton Vees (33-16-0-6) Tuesday night at Wesbild.
Meanwhile, the Vees did Vernon a favour by knocking off host Salmon Arm SilverBacks 3-1 Friday night at the Sunwave Centre.