Vipers Knock Out Kings 4-0:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Vipers knock out Kings 4-0

POWELL RIVER – It was all systems go for the Vernon Vipers as they shut out the Powell Rivers Kings 4-0 Friday night in the B.C. Hockey League Fred Page Cup championship series opener.
Game 1 was textbook for the Interior champions as they turned in a performance that put a wide smile on the face of head coach Mark Ferner.
“We just tried to play a real road game, get pucks to the net and we were pretty fortunate to get a couple of goals early,” said Ferner.
His plan spoiled the Kings’ plan, which was to feed off the overflow crowd of 1,215 at the Recreation Complex watching the presentation of the Cliff McNabb Trophy as Coastal Conference winners.
Vernon caught a break at 7:48 of the first period when Sahir Gill threw a pass out from behind the Kings’ net and it deflected off a defenceman’s skate into the goal.
The Snakes made it 2-0 at 10:26 when Connor Jones rushed the length of the ice and with a couple of teammates barged in on Kings’ goalie Carsen Chubak.
“I kind of threw it at the net hoping for a lucky bounce,” he grinned, “and that’s the way the game was – we got a lot of good bounces.”
Just 1:16 later, Corey Kane flew down the right wing and hit James Kerr with a perfect pass that he slammed in for the Vipers’ third goal in just under four minutes.
Kings’ coach Kent Lewis quickly called a time out to settle down his team, but the Vipers were clearly in control.
The Kings tried to get back in the game in the second period but were clearly frustrated by the impenetrable wall of Vernon’s defence and the stellar goaltending by Andrew Hammond.
Hammond turned the Kings away early in the period when sniper Clay Harvey had a great scoring chance on the powerplay from the low slot.
Californian Kyle Bigos launched a drive from the blue line that deflected over the shoulder of Chubak with four minutes remaining in the period.
“Got a good one timer pass from Collins so I took the shot,” smiled the big d-man, who was named first star.
Bigos took another shot later in the game from Kings’ forward Ben Schmidt during a fight. Schmidt, frustrated with the lopsided score, got tangled up with Bigos midway through the third frame and things got ugly.
“After we were on the ground he just spit in my mouth,” winced Bigos, “which is really gross. I was really surprised by that.”
BCHL commissioner John Grisdale was in attendance and confirmed Schmidt will receive an automatic three-game suspension for his actions.
“He’s received a match,” he said, “and the referee’s report is coming in to Dave ((Sales) and we can’t change any matches so that’s automatic,” said Grisdale.
If the Kings don’t find a way to crack the Viper defence – bolstered by the return of Cam Brodie from injury reserve – Schmidt, a 20-year-old forward out of Campbell River who had 10 goals and 54 PIM during the regular season, may have seen an end to his season. The Vipers will stick to their effective style.
“We trust each other and we trust our systems,” said Ferner.
“We kept it pretty simple tonight, we got pucks deep and tried to win as many races and as many battles as we could.
“They’re a dangerous team and we’re pretty fortunate to win the first one here and tomorrow night’s going to be that much tougher.”
At the other end of the hallway, Lewis said the Kings were battling two opponents in the game.
“I don’t think we had the jump or we had the zip that we needed to be in a league final. We’ll have to definitely be better and address a few guys that just disappeared off the map and have to be a lot better tomorrow.”
The large crowd included about 30 Vernon fans.
“We were fortunate to get a couple of nice bounces and some lucky goals,” smiled Viper owner Duncan Wray, “and I think it frustrated the Kings for the large part. It was a nice start to the series for us.”
Added injured forward Ryan Santana, from the stands, early in the game: “It’s definitely a confidence booster for our team being up 3-0 at the end of the first period. I think some guys might have had some jitters, but once they got those out, it’s just getting after it and everyone starts to play their game and have some fun.”
Games 3 and 4 go Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Vernon.

SNAKE BITES: The Snakes outshot the Kings 32-23 with Hammond’s busiest period the second when he faced 14 shots...Hammond was second star and d-man Reid Campbell of the Kings third...D-man Kevin Kraus pocketed a pair of assists...Viper grad Ryan Kakoske, a defenceman at UBC, was named the Thunderbirds’ Rookie-of-the-Year at their year-end banquet Friday night in Vancouver.