Vipers In A Romp Over T-Wolves:

Vipers in a romp over T-Wolves

by Don Klepp -Sep 27, 2009

The Vernon Vipers outskated the visiting Williams Lake Timberwolves in a 5-1 victory Saturday at the Westbild Centre. Throughout the contest, the Timberwolves defencemen were unable to contain the speedy Viper forwards. Thus, goaltender Evan Dauenhauer, a Vernon product who was playing his first BCHL game in his home town, faced 38 shots, many from close in. Typically, the Viper forwards went wide and fired passes to teammates streaking to the net. The first Viper goal resulted from Jonathon Milhouse’s breakaway speed. After gathering a chipped pass from Mike Collins, he raced down the left wing and cut in on his backhand. His quick shot trickled through Dauenhauer’s pads at 4:02. A big league play by Dylan Walchuk created the second Viper goal at 12:32. The 17-year old from McBride collected Cole Ikkala’s clearing pass and swept across the Williams Lake blue line. Sensing that Sawyer Mick was barreling down the centre of the ice, Walchuk swerved and slowed slightly to allow Mick to catch up, and then he fed Mick for a high tip-in at the crease. The Vipers had two other glorious scoring chances in the period. Playing short handed, Connor Jones created a turnover and rushed in alone, but Dauenhauer was able to block the close-in chance. Later, on the power play, Adam Thompson’s rocket slapper grazed the cross bar with the goalie beaten. The T’Wolves were outshot 15 to 5 in the first period, but they acquitted themselves in the second period as the shots favoured the Vipers by just 8 to 7. The visitors had two good scoring chances and converted on one of them. Jason Diehl, a 20-year old BCHL rookie from San Diego beat Viper goalie Blake Voth with a rising wrist shot on a Timberwolf two-on-one at 16:27. However, the Diehl goal was sandwiched by two Viper goals. On the power play, Milhouse collected his second of the night at 13:44 when his partially-fanned slap shot slipped in the far corner past a screened Dauenhauer. And a minute after the Williams Lake goal, Dylan Walchuk scored a beauty while the Vipers were short handed. Mike Collins earned his third assist of the game, as he vacuumed a loose puck at centreout shot and sent Walchuk through the middle. The elusive Walchuk beat a defenceman at the blue line, faked the goalie to the right, veered left, and slid a low shot back to the right corner of the net. Meanwhile, Connor Jones was having one of the most frustrating games of his Junior A career. Three times in the second period, he was set up by brother Kellen, but Connor either shot wide or fanned on the shot. Finally, Connor connected in the third period. Kellen’s two-on-one feed at 8:06 gave Connor another chance and this time Connor fired the puck over Dauenhauer’s glove hand. The Timberwolves seemed to run out of gas in the third period, perhaps partly because they had traveled all day after playing the previous night in Prince George. (Their odyssey continues with a Sunday afternoon tilt in Trail.) In the third, they were out shot 15 to 3, and were fortunate to concede just one goal. Milhouse nearly scored his hat trick goal shorthanded, Braden Pimm rang one off the post and was denied on a five-footer by Dauenhauer, and Mike Collins missed a wide open net from five feet. Lost to some extent in the one-sided affair was the work of Blake Voth. The 17-year old netminder from Herbert, Saskatchewan was calm and effective in his BCHL debut. Although he faced just 15 shots, he had to make two acrobatic saves in the first period when the score was 1-0. One came on a Justin Bardarson deflection that required Voth to push hard to the right and go into a wide-legged split. Then, he reacted quickly to Josh MacDonald’s shot off the rebound. Viper fans saw why the team was so keen to secure Voth’s services for this year and the future. Another Viper rookie, Darrin Robak, also saw his first BCHL regular season action. An 18 year-old defenceman outnet minder of Red Deer, Robak impressed the crowd with his exuberant physical play. The Timberwolves have 20 BCHL rookies on the roster and, even though their ranks include twelve 19-year old players and three with 1989 birth dates, their lack of BCHL experience showed up in their inability to cope with the Viper’s swift transition game.

Game Notes: • Viper rookie Dylan Walchuk is the only Viper to collect at least one point in each of the team’s six games so far this season. • Kevin Kraus recorded a game-high 7 hits. Meanwhile, big Kyle Beaulieu delivered three thunderous hits for Williams Lake. • The Vipers have now out scored the opposition 26 to 8 in their six wins to start the season.