Vipers Shut Down Kings Again:

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Vipers shut down Kings again

by Don Klepp | Added 2011-04-03

A gutsy defensive effort by the Vernon Vipers created a 2-0 series lead as they defeated the home town Powell Kings 1-0 on Saturday.

David Robinson settled a tense contest with a strike at 14:41 of the third period. He accepted a crisp pass from Dylan Walchuk just over the Kings blue line and wired a low wrist shot past Michael Garteig on the glove side.

“The defenceman was closing on me quickly, so I put it on net right away,” said Robinson.

Robinson said that “our guys gave a full effort tonight, but so did the Kings. That’s the hardest working team we’ve seen all year.”

Coach Mark Ferner also praised the Kings: “Their coach demanded more from them tonight, and they responded, but we met each one of their challenges.”

He cautioned that “I expect Powell River to keep coming at us like they did tonight, so we’ll have to be at our very best Monday in Vernon.”

First star Kirby Halcrow, who stopped 24 shots, was once again better than Michael Garteig, who saved 26 of 27.

Halcrow was at his best killing a penalty that he took when he cleared Chad Niddery out of the crease at 5:53 of the third period. Halcrow also made some big saves in the last 30 seconds of the game.

Coach Kent Lewis gambled with 2:05 remaining, pulling Garteig for an extra attacker. However, the Vipers held the Kings at bay, not allowing a shot in the first minute and a half of that time.

In the frantic last seconds, the desperate Kings poured on the pressure, but a quintet of veteran Vipers led by Adam Thompson and David Robinson helped Kirby Halcrow preserve the shutout.

The first two periods featured high speed hockey but fanatical checking by both teams derailed many promising rushes.

Each team had a gilt edged opportunity in the second period. Early in the period, Brenden Forbes had a half open net from 15 feet, but partially fanned on his shot.

Later in the period, Marcus Basara rocketed down the right wing and turned Justin Dasilva inside out with a deft bit of stick handling, but was unable to beat Garteig with a five-hole stuff.

As one might expect in a defensive struggle, the penalty killing was tenacious in this game. The Kings held the Vipers scoreless in four power plays while the Vipers returned the favour the three times the Kings had a man advantage.

There were relatively few penalties despite a lot of hard hitting by both teams. Justin Dasilva and Malcolm Lyles led the way for their respective teams.

The series resumes with games in Vernon on Monday and Tuesday.