Saints Ride Special Teams To Victory:

This is posted on the Vipers website:

Saints ride special teams to victory

by Don Klepp | Added 2011-04-18

A potent power play and stingy penalty kill powered the Spruce Grove Saints’ 5-2 win in Vernon on Sunday.

Spruce Grove converted three of their five power plays and held the Vipers to one power play goal in seven attempts. In a key point in the game, they killed a Viper 5-on-3 advantage that started late in the first period and continued on fresh ice in the second period.

The Vipers generated two excellent scoring chances during that advantage, but the Saints collapsed toward goaltender Vincenzo Marozzi to prevent second chance opportunities.

The opening 20 minutes saw fierce checking by both teams, who seemed to recognize the importance of this swing game. However, each team managed a power play goal.

The Saints opened the scoring at 14:45, courtesy of Scott Allen, who finished a succession of sharp Saint passes with a high shot through a screen from the right faceoff circle.

The Vipers responded at 18: 53. After a faceoff win by David Robinson, the puck went back to Adam Thompson, who found Bryce Kakoske in the right corner. Kakoske’s hard pass bounced off Jesse Slobodian’s stick in the crease and Robinson had an easy tap-in to make the score 1-1.

The Saints went head at 3:41 of the second period. Scott Allen drove in from the left side and the puck slid to Kirby Halcrow, who smothered it. Allen shrugged off a Viper defender and used his stick to push Halcrow and the puck into the net.

After a brief conference, referees Brett Iversen and Jeff Ingram decided to not penalize Allen for goaltender interference and to give a goal to the Saints. Apparently, they claimed that Allen had been pushed into the goaltender.

The 2-1 lead held up for the next 22 minutes, although the Vipers came close on the power play when Brett Corkey’s low shot beat Marozzi and struck the goalie’s right goal post.

Spruce Grove salted the game away in the final period with two power play goals during a four-minute high sticking penalty to Aaron Hadley. Josh Koper notched the first, 15 seconds after the penalty call as he skated straight through the middle and unleashed a wrist shot over Halcrow’s catcher.

Then, at 6:11 Josh Keizer swatted in Corey Chorneyko’s centering pass.

Dane Muench brought the Vipers to within two goals with a backhand at 9:42, but the Saints went into clampdown mode and finished the scoring with a Josh Koper empty netter at 18:33.

Game Notes:

• The Vipers out shot the Saints, 29-19, and out chanced them, 14-9.

• For the first time in the series, the Saints out hit the Vipers, 31-28.

• Scott Allen, the game’s first star, scored his second and third goals to equal his goal total in last year’s Doyle Cup versus the Vipers.

• After a lengthy absence because of post concussion symptoms, Max Mowat returned to the Viper lineup.

• Kyle Murphy missed the game because of an injury sustained in Saturday’s game.

• The series resumes on Wednesday and Thursday in Spruce Grove. Both teams will hop on the bus Monday morning. If a sixth game and seventh game prove necessary, they will be played on Saturday and Sunday in Spruce Grove.