Vipers Win Cliff Hanger In Opening Game:

This is posted on the Vipers website:

Vipers win cliff hanger in opening game

by Don Klepp | Added 2010-04-02

The opening game of this year’s BCHL final had the same result as the last game of last year’s Fred Page Cup between Vernon and Powell River – The Vipers hung on for a 2-1 victory.

Late in the third period, Graeme Gordon put on quite a show for his mother (in from North Vancouver) and 2484 other fans. With the Kings pressing after pulling goaltender Josh Watson, Gordon robbed Chad Niddery, Daniel Carr, and Matt Garbowsky on in-close chances. He also made a superb pad save on Niddery in the first period, after the King speedster had been set up for a tap-in by Garbowsky.

At the other end, Josh Watson was effective and occasionally brilliant, especially during a Viper power play when the hosts created three excellent scoring chances. David Robinson had the best chances, but was unable to get the puck to sit down on two of them. He was stopped point blank by Watson on the other as he one-timed a pass in the low slot.

Although this game had all the signs of a tight defensive struggle, each team had its chances when the play occasionally opened up. In the second period, for example, Sahir Gill was all alone at the King blue line, but wasn’t able to quite corral Steve Weinstein’s 125-foot pass. Later, Chad Niddery sneaked in behind the Viper defence, but couldn’t haul in a long pass that skipped on him.

So how did the teams score? The answer is: “in three different ways.”

The Vipers opened the scoring at 12:49 of the first period on their first of three power plays in the game. Steve Weinstein joined Sahir Gill and Kellen Jones at Watson’s goalmouth. They overpowered the single King defender, and when Curtis Gedig’s point shot came in, Gill was able to deflect the puck across the goalmouth for Kellen to bat it in.

In the third, Connor and Kellen Jones combined for an insurance goal at 14:19. Kellen moved the puck to an open Connor on the right wing. With one of the King defencemen trapped, Connor and Sahir Gill had one defender to beat. Using Gill as a decoy, Connor went hard to the net and slipped the disk through Watson’s legs.

Connor’s goal proved to be valuable because Teagen Waugh reduced the deficit to 2-1 with a strange goal at 16:01. Kevin Kraus cut off Waugh’s path at the top of the faceoff circles, so Waugh tried a speculative shot. The puck spun off Kraus’s right shin pad and changed directions twice on its way to the goal. Gordon was caught by the second twist and by the change in speed.

Heartened, the Kings came in waves, but had no more luck. With Watson on the bench, the Vipers twice nearly potted an empty netter. In the closing 30 seconds, they nearly rued an inability to clear the zone when they had chances to do so. Gordon’s athleticism saved the game.

Look for more of the same in Saturday’s game at the Wesbild Centre. Shane Luckinchuk was not exaggerating when he said before the game that the Kings “are a very hungry team.”