Road show time for Vipers
Published: April 19, 2011
Kevin Mitchell/Graeme Corbett
Morning Star Staff
Two methodical teams who pay special attention to detail and don’t care who gets credit when they win hockey games.
Something had to give with the Doyle Cup regional series square at 1-1 Sunday night, and it was the No. 1-ranked Spruce Grove Saints who seemed hungrier as they used three powerplay goals to ground the Vernon Vipers 5-2.
Game 4 in the best-of-seven series goes tonight at Grant Fuhr Arena, where the Alberta champion Saints are 25-2-0-3 this season. Game 5 is Thursday.
Power forward Scott Allen and feisty centre Josh Roper each scored twice for the Saints before just 1,259 fans at Wesbild Centre, where the lounge and corridor TV sets were highly popular during intermissions featuring the Canucks-Blackhawks game.
The Vipers, a strong road team who have shown resiliency in the post-season, played their worst game since being stuffed 6-1 by the Salmon Arm SilverBacks in Game 2 of the Interior Conference final series.
“We’ve got our post-game routines so we’ve got to stick to that,” said Viper d-man Malcolm Lyles. “Recover, eat, get sleep, drink water, come back, battle another day. It’s a hockey game, you win some, you lose some.”
Viper head coach Mark Ferner said he was brutally honest in his post-game address, declaring an unacceptable outing by some players and pointing out that the longer the season goes, the harder it becomes to win.
“It’s disappointing, no question,” said Ferner. “We talked about what we felt were all the right things and making sure we had everyone on board and everybody bringing something to the table and it just wasn’t there. We just didn’t have everyone going as hard as they can.
“And certainly, that’s a good hockey team, I’m not gonna take anything away from them, but we know that we can be better. We don’t get this thing done unless we get everyone playing a certain way for 60 minutes.”
The Saints did a stellar job on the penalty kill, holding the Snakes to one goal on six chances. Spruce Grove was 3-for-4 with the man advantage.
“I think we play a very good team game and we have everybody on the same page, that is the strength of our team,” said Saints’ head coach Jason Mckee, an assistant with the team last year. “We don’t have a lot of flashy guys, but we really buy into what we’re doing as a group.”
McKee knows the two-time defending national champion Vipers – rated No. 9 in Canada – are far from done.
“They’re a very good team, very well coached, with lots of skill and lots of speed. It’s a fine line between losing at this time of year and we realize that, and we’re going to have to continue to play well.”
The Saints opened the scoring Sunday on the powerplay at 14:45 of the first period when Allen beat Viper goalie Kirby Halcrow with a wrister along the ice from the high slot one minute into a David Robinson penalty. Defencemen Dustin Fostvelt and Corey Cherneyko drew assists after some rapid puck movement.
The Vipers pulled even five minutes later when Robinson converted a corner feed from Bryce Kakoske which bounced off d-man Jesse Slobodian’s stick right to a wide open Robinson.
Allen, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound winger, literally drove the net and mowed over Halcrow as he skated from the corner and stuffed the puck under the big net detective to put Spruce Grove up 2-1 at 3:41 of the second period. Referees Jeff Ingram and Brett Iverson conferred at the the timekeeper’s bench for a few minutes before declaring it a good goal.
“I saw an opening so I just drove the puck and somehow it went in,” said Allen, who will play for the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves next year. “I didn’t see it go in and we just sellied (celebrated) after that.”
Mckee wasn’t surprised at how determined Allen – named first star – was on his controversial goal, his team-high seventh of the playoffs.
“He finds lots of different ways to score and that’s one of ‘em. He’s got a great shot, he uses his big frame to shield guys off and take pucks to the net and he’s been very good for us lately.”
The Saints clicked twice on an early third-period powerplay after Vernon’s Aaron Hadley was assessed a double minor for high sticking Slobodian, who was cut on the play, in the Spruce Grove corner.
Koper beat Halcrow with a high wrister from the low slot 14 seconds into the powerplay, while Josh Keizer scored 36 seconds later, with all kinds of time from the left side of the wide open net. Chorneyko and Fostvelt drew assists.
The Vipers pulled to within two when Dane Muench, facing backwards, buried a backhander from six feet out at 9:42.
Roper hit an empty netter with 87 seconds left. The Vipers outshot the Saints 29-19 with Vince Marozzi earning the win.
While the Saints set a goal of getting to Camrose for the Royal Bank Cup starting April 30, Allen says they are living in the present.
“We knew winning the league was just a stepping stone and also this series was just a stepping stone, but we have to stay focused on the Doyle Cup right now and not get too far ahead.”
In Game 2 before 2,513 fans Saturday night, the Vipers got off to a solid start for the second straight night, outshooting the Saints 14-5 in the first period. Lyles opened the scoring with a powerplay goal late in the period, beating Marozzi with a slap shot from outside the blueline. Brett Corkey and Mike Zalewski drew the assists.
“He was cheating, so I just thought I would throw it near the net and he put it in himself,” said the explosive-skating blueliner.
In the final minute of the first period, Robinson, lingering at Spruce Grove’s blueline, took a stretch pass and went in alone on Marozzi (37 saves, first star) but rang his shot off the post.
The Saints played with urgency in the second period as Keizer tested Halcrow’s glove hand 45 seconds into the frame.
After Vernon took its second straight penalty in the period, the Saints made them pay as forward Nicholas Bourgeois corralled a loose puck off a face-off and buried it five-hole on Halcrow (26 saves) before he could get set.
Spruce Grove’s Brett Switzer, a former Viper, gave his team its first lead in the series when he roofed the rebound off a point shot at 10:25.
“He’s a big goalie, so we just got to make sure you put as much on it as you can, as high as you can,” said Switzer, who played half a season with Vernon in the 2008-09 campaign before being traded.
“It’s a good feeling being here. Being traded, you always feel like you have something to prove when that happens. A win sure makes that feel better.”
The Saints made it 3-1 after Vernon d-man Ryan Renz turned the puck over trying to make an outlet pass at his blueline. Allen (third star) cut into the slot and fired against the grain, burying his shot just inside the post at 15:18.
Patrick McGillis (second star) pulled the Snakes within a goal on the next shift, beating Marozzi through traffic.
Ferner liked parts of his team’s play, but wanted a more consistent effort throughout.
“You can’t expect to win games at this time of year when you only play parts of 40 minutes,” he said.
“It got away from us a little bit. When you’re turning pucks over in the neutral zone, especially against a team like that, odds are you’re going to spend a lot of time in your own end.”
The Vipers generated several scoring chances with Halcrow pulled for the extra attacker, the best being a Dylan Walchuk one-timer set up by Bryce Kakoske.
We were under siege, but he (Marozzi) held the fort for us,” said Mckee. “We got the compete level back in our game from all the guys. The guys deserved the win tonight; they worked hard.”
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