Vipers Overwhelm Saints:

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Vipers overwhelm Saints

by Don Klepp | Added 2010-04-21

Two goal efforts by Connor Jones, David Robinson, and MIke Collins paced the Vipers to a convincing 6-3 win over the visiting Spruce Grove Saints on Wednesday.

The score at the end of the first period was just 1-1, but the Vipers established their dominance that resulted in three second-period goals. In the opening frame, the home team peppered Vincenzo Marozzi with 19 shots as the Vipers generated 14 scoring chances. Clearly then, Marozzi was very good for the Saints.

Perhaps the first period onslaught tired Marozzi, because he surrendered a power play goal to Mike Collins that he perhaps should have stopped. Collins was about 12 feet from the goal, at a tight angle, but he squeezed his shot through Marozzi. Braden Pimm set up Collins, who had 30 goals in the regular season, but just two in 22 playoff games.

Connor Jones then went to work. First, he stole the puck at the Viper blue line during a Saints power play and roared down the ice, Ryan Kerr tried to cut Connor off, but the Montrose speedster zipped by and beat Marozzi with a backhand through the five-hole. Connor added his second marker at 17:31 after good work by Kellen Jones and Sahir Gill in the offensive zone.

Connor's short handed goal, his sixth of the extended season, didn't come as a surprise because the Vipers had two very good short handed chanmces in the first period. Jonathan Milhouse and Braden Pimm were each foiled by Marozzi.

The Vipers'opening goal was scored by David Robinson at 11:24. Cory Kane won a battle at the Viper blue line and bnanked a pass off the boards to beat a pinching defenceman. The off side D-man tried to get to Robinson, but the Vernon product went hard to the net and put his backhand off Marozzi's shoulder.

Some Viper indifference in their zone allowed the Saints to equalize at 14:11. The Saints' fourth line did the damage, snapping up loose Viper passes and crashing the net. Bryce Van Brabant finjished the crash-and-bang play.

When leading after two periods, the Vipers had won 53 games and lost 3 in overtime. For the first 8 minutes of the third period, they seemed determined to run that record to 54 wins, as they checked and checked.
They ran the score to 5-1 when David Robinson converted Rob Short's inch-perfect crease pass at 5:54.

But then the Vipers went into the cruise control and the Saints showed how dangerous they can be with two goals within a minute. A breakdown just outside the Viper blue line led to a Kodie Curran goal at 8:36. Then, Josh Keizer intercepted a clearing pass and surprised Graeme Gordon with a shot at 9:33.

Mark Ferner promptly called a time out and the Vipers settled down for the rest of the game. However, the Saints were fired up and they pressed for the next several minutes. Graeme Gordon again had to be very sharp on several re-directed shots.

After Cory Kane crushed Kodie Curran at 17:41, Saints goalie Travis Rolheiser - he had replaced Marozzi after Connor's second goal - was replaced by a sixth attacker. That strategy backfired when Mike Collins potted an empty-net, short-handed goal at 19:20.

In the final analysis, the Vipers dominated every category except faceoffs. Shots were 40-28. Scoring chances were 26-18. Hits were 43 to 24.

The Vipers can wrap up the series with a win Thursday night, but it won't be easy. The Saints have no quit in them, and they can score quickly as they showed in the third period.