Vernon 8 Quesnel 1

I was at tonights BCHL game as Vernon defeated Quesnel 8-1 in front of 1,805 fans at Wesbild Centre.

Starting Goaltenders:

Vernon: Blake Voth
Quesnel: Adam Harris

The Vipers were wearing their 3rd set jerseys, while the Millionaires were wearing the teams home white jerseys.

1st Period: Both teams got off to a good start with some good early action. John Knisley for the Vipers with a good chance on a wraparound was stopped by Adam Harris who come across the crease with the big pad to make the save. Justin Hogan come back the other way for the Mills but was stopped by Blake Voth on a nice pad save. Both teams with some good play in the opening period as the had lots of flow with some good back and forth action. Dylan Walchuk all alone in front missed on a great chance, missing a wide open net shooting wide. Steve Weinstein with two quick shots from the point come very close to opening the scoring, Weinsteins first shot was stopped by Harris before his second shot just missed the far top corner. Quesnel was holding their own early and kept up with the Vipers for most of the 1st period. The Vipers got a bit of a scare when Kyle Murphy took a hard shot off his hand, he seemed to be favoring it after going to the bench on a linechange. Murphy seemed to be fine getting a regular shift for the rest of the game. Vernon for the second straight night, played physical in the opening period, and was finishing their checks. Dylan Walchuk wearing Scott Longstaffs old jersey #9 scored a highlight real goal, putting a nice move in close on Adam Harris and then roofing his shot high upstairs giving Vernon the 1-0 lead at 12:29, Patrick McGillis & Darren Nowick with the assists. Just a few minutes later with a scramble in front of Voth, Malcolm Gould with a wraparound couldnt get the puck in after Voth come up with a huge pad save with traffic in front, back come the Vipers, Brett Corkey just through the puck towards the goal, Harris couldnt gobble up the rebound while Bryce Kakoske and David Robinson were banging away at the loose puck before Robinson found the back of the net at 15:04 on a hard working play giving the Vipers a 2-0 lead. Kakoske and Corkey collected the helpers. The Mills would call a timeout wich seemed to turn the tide a little as back come Quesnel with some good presure in the Vipers zone. The Millionaires moved the puck well, created some chances before Justin Hogan scooped up the loose puck after a turnover inside the Vernon line, but Hogan couldnt get the puck past Voth. Quesnel slowly started to carry the play in the final few minutes before Dylan Walchuk used his speed and determination to beat the Quesnel d-man throwing the puck towards the net setting up captain David Robinson for his second of the night with just 1.9 seconds remaining in the period. Walchuk and Darren Nowick with the assists. Another solid hard working shift for Vernon, resulted in a goal. This was a tough break for the Mills, with some good hard work of their own they come up with some chances but gave up a killer with just under two seconds to go in the 1st. A fairly even played period from both clubs. Vernon was up 3-0 after 20 minutes of play. The Vipers outshot the Mills 14-10.

2nd Period: A bit of a slow start to the 2nd period as both teams couldnt seem to get much of anything going. Some scrambly play in the early goings. Vernon would get the games first powerplay just over three minutes into the period. The Vipers wouldnt generate much offence as the Mills did a good job at shutting down the Vipers killing off the minor. Quesnel would get a great chance on a nice give and go, Spencer Graboski setup Ryan Crossen in front on an odd man rush but Crossen couldnt find the back of the net. Veteran Justin Hogan won the draw deep in the Vipers zone, getting the puck back to Malcolm Gould who wired a quick shot off the draw wich beat Blake Voth at 6:10 getting the Mills on the board. Hogan with the only assist on a nice goal. Just shortly after Quesnel would get its first powerplay of the night but was unable to really do much damage as Vernon would kill off the minor. Quesnel looked like the better team in the first half of the 2nd but just couldnt seem to get any bounces. At the midway mark Rigby Burgart hit David Robinson with a low check in the neutral zone, sending Malcolm Lyles over who leveled Burgart into towards the Mills bench as tempers heated up quickly with some pushing and shoving going on. The scrum was broken up with no real major fighting. The Vipers would then get a fluke goal, Adam Harris broke his goal stick and was forced to drop it. Harris's stick was laying just outside of the Mills crease, with the Vipers in control of the play Bryce Kakoskes shot from the circle hit Harris's stick and then went into the goal. Harris and the Mills were shocked. Aaron Hadley with the lone assist on the play. Up to this point Quesnel was the better of the two teams, Kakoskes goal seemed to turn the tide and change momentum. Just under two minutes later Marcus Basara beat Harris at 14:45 giving Vernon a 5-1 lead. Max Mowat and Trevor Fitzgerald collected the assists. On the next play Vernon would go back to the powerplay but it wouldnt last very long, as the Vipers would get called for a penalty wich in the end gave the Millionaires a shortened powerplay. With the Mills on the man advantage Max Mowat made a smart play setting up David Robinson for his 3rd goal of the game at 17:09 giving Vernon a 6-1 lead and now in full control of the hockey game. Mowat with the lone assist. The bleeding didnt stop their, as just over a minute later just as the Mills powerplay expired, Malcolm Lyles with a nice move through the neutral zone setup Vernon product Trevor Fitzgeral who stepped over the blueline and wired a shot high over Adam Harris at 18:24 putting the Vipers up 7-1. Lyles with the only helper. At the buzzer John Knisley and Justin Hogan were tangled up with one another, as both players had to be seperated by a linesman as words were being exchanged. What started out to be a good period for the Millionaires ended up being a nightmare. Vernon really turned the tables after Kakoskes goal. I noticed Patrick McGillis was no where to be seen on the Vipers bench in the 2nd period and didnt return to the game. The Vipers now having to do some line juggling. The Vipers took a 7-1 lead after 40 minutes of play. Vernon outshot Quesnel 10-5.

3rd Period: Quesnel with two good chances in the opening few minutes, Justin Hogan and Malcolm Gould with two big shots from the slot couldnt beat Blake Voth. Voth coming up with two good saves early to keep the momentum on the Vipers side. Just shortly after Rigby Burgart ran over Voth in his crease, sending Voth and his mask crashing to the ice as Burgart laid ontop of Voth. Steve Weinstein jumped in trying to get Burgart off Voth with a little bit of a scrum going on in the Vipers crease, as tempers slowly started to heat up once again between these two teams. With Weinstein heading off for roughing, Burgart was give five minutes for crosschecking, two minutes for roughing and tossed from the game. So with Vernon on an early powerplay, the Vipers moved the puck well, creating and generating some time and space setting up a few real nice give and goes in close but the Vipers couldnt convert on two real good chances from in close. Still on the man advantage John Knisley setup a wide open Marcus Basara who hit the empty net at 5:49 giving Vernon a 8-1 lead and still time left on the five minute powerplay. Vernon would setup shop again and get another real good chance in close before Adam Harris made a tough save keeping the puck tight between his pads. In the dying few seconds of the powerplay, Spencer Graboski was sent in all alone for the breakaway but Blake Voth shut the door making a nice save, the Vipers kept the play alive feeding Mike Zalewski who with some nice moves in close couldnt convert after Harris come up with a nice save. Quesnel would give up just the lone goal on the five minute major. After a few penalties on both sides slowed down the play a little, tempers heated up for the third time tonight. Kyle Murphy got his stick up at the end of a play in the mask of Adam Harris, Skyler Smutek jumped in giving Murphy a shot before both players started pushing and shoving, as the linesmen jumped in Smutek dropped his gloves, tossing punches at Murphy. Both players were seperated and Smutek was given two minutes along with a ten minute misconduct wich forced him to leave the game. Murphy was also given two minutes for roughing. You could start to see the frustration set in on the Quesnel Millionaires as the period went on. The Mills just wanting to hit the showers and head on to Merritt for a date with the Centennials tomorrow afternoon. Blake Voth and the Vipers got lucky late in the 3rd as Chris Kerr ripped a quick shot from the circle that beat Voth but went off the crossbar. Just a few minutes later Voth had to be sharp making a nice pad save off Devin Balness from the circle. From here on in it was all Vipers as Vernon looked like they had the puck on a string at times coming up with a few real nice give and goes. Vernon controlled most of the 3rd and in the end would defeat Quesnel 8-1. The Vipers outshot the Mills 12-10.

Top Players: (Vernon)

Max Mowat (2 assists) Looked very comfortable and confident on the Vipers blueline. Mowat chipped in with two assists played very well.

Dylan Walchuk (1 goal & 1 assist) looked very strong for the Vipers. Walchuk scored a highlight real goal to open the scoring. Walchuk could have picked up two goals tonight but missed a wide open cage in the 1st. Walchuk had some real nice dangles all night.

David Robinson (3 goals) The Vipers captain who isnt very well liked by the Mills picked up the hat trick. Robinson played an round solid game.

Aaron Hadley (1 assist) & Todd Skirving both looked very good together. With the loss of Patrick McGillis Hadley and Skirving had a new linemate on several occasions tonight. Hadley wasnt much a factor in the scoring department but I thought did all the little things that made him look very solid up front for the Vipers. Tonight was the best I have seen Todd Skirving play in a long time. Skirving who is a bigger kid, dosnt seem to use his size to his advantage. I thought Skirving come up with a few good chances, played and looked very good.

Darren Nowick (2 assists) Nowick looked very strong with the puck in the offensive zone, this kid isnt the biggest kid but has some wheels and can handle the puck very well. Here's a kid who deserves a goal after all of his hard work.

Marcus Basara (2 goals) Basara played very well tonight, has slowly started to come along. Made some real nice plays tonight, was very good with the puck, has some real nice hands in close.

Blake Voth (24 saves) Voth has slowly started to come along the past few games. Voth has given up just two goals in his last three games. Made some key saves though out tonights game. Even though the score was 7-1 Voth made a few nice pad saves early to start the 3rd wich kept the momentum on the Vipers side.

Top Players: (Quesnel)

Justin Hogan (1 assist) Veteran Justin Hogan who always seems to play well against the Vipers was by far the Mills best player. Hogan played with alot of energy, and come up with the most scoring chances.

Malcolm Gould (1 goal) Gould I thought played well for most of the game. Scored a real nice goal off the draw deep in the Vernon zone.

Game Thoughts: (Vernon)

Well for the second straight night the Vipers played a full 60 minutes and come away with a pretty convincing win. This game wasnt as lop sided as the score indicated. Vernon had to work, and battle hard to earn three first period goals. The Vipers who didnt walk through the park with tonights game battled and didnt stop competing earning the 8-1 victory. A very open and quick 1st period with both teams getting some good chances. The Vipers drove hard towards the goal and were rewarded with three 1st period goals. I thought the turning point was Bryce Kakoskes goal in the 2nd wich gave Vernon a 4-1 lead. The Vipers come into the 2nd up 3-0 and didnt get off to a good start, the play was a little scrambly early on before the Mills scored a quick goal off the draw getting them on the board, wich seemed to give them a little momentum. But Kakoskes goal wich went in off of Adam Harris's broken goal stick seemed to break the Mills back, then just two minutes later the Vipers would jump ahead 5-1 and never look back, from here on in it was basically all Vernon. After a 1-1 tie vs Quesnel back on October 6th the Vipers speed, skill and hard work was too much for the Mills. The Vipers were driving towards the net all night with some good net presence, wich resulted in atleast three or four Vernon goals. The Vipers also got alot of lucky breaks-bounces. Vernon is now undefeated vs Quesnel in their last 30 games (28-0-2) And for all the Vipers parents in town this weekend, welcome to Vernon and the Okanagan. I hope you enjoy your stay.

Game Thoughts: (Quesnel)

After taking a 7-3 loss in Salmon Arm last night, the Mills were ready to play and gave the Vipers a good run in the 1st period. A few lucky bounces and some hard work paid off for Vernon giving them a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. I think anytime you give up a late goal in a period with just 1.9 seconds remaining has to hurt, especially on the road. The Mills played with the Vipers up until Vernons fourth goal wich really seemed to change momentum. Quesnel didnt get any bounces or puck luck all night. As the game went along you could see the Mills had all kinds of trouble with Vernons speed and skill, the Vipers were very hard to stop. You could see as the game went on, the frustration level coming from the Millionaire players. Quesnels last win against Vernon was back in November of 2004.

Scratches:

Vernon:

Elliott Richardson
Colton Sparrow
Gus Correale

Quesnel:

Quin Buckellew
Tyler French
Sterling Bear

3 Stars:

1st Star: David Robinson (3 goals)
2nd Star: Marcus Basara (2 goals)
3rd Star: Max Mowat (2 assists)