Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Trail 5 Vernon 4

For anyone who could not attend or watch tonight’s Vipers game here are my thoughts and views from tonight’s game. You may agree or disagree but we all have our own view and opinion on any game we watch. This is my opinion and my thoughts on how I saw tonight’s game. I try to be unbiased and give a fare recap on both sides. Thanks for stopping by & visiting my blog.

I was at tonight's BCHL game as Trail defeated Vernon 5-4 in front of 1,536 fans at the Wesbild Centre.

Starting Goaltenders:

Vernon:  Danny Todosychuk
Trail:  Adam Todd

The game was delayed about fifteen minutes due to the Trail bus arriving into town late due to the bad roads.

1st Period:  Just two minutes into the opening period Aaron Hadley and Liam Board on a parcial two on one but Hadley couldnt get his shot through the solid defensive play by the Trail defenceman.  Just over four minutes into the game Colton Sparrow dropped the gloves with Austin Adduono.  A very chippy-physical period with lots of big hits as well as tempers heating up as several players yapping back and forth with one another, as well as players taking little jabs or shots at each other.  Andrew Tegeler was trying to go after atleast two different Smokies early before Tegeler was getting all kinds of little jabs or shots in and after the whistle through out the game.  Even heard it from the Trail bench most of the night everytime he skated by.  Lots of little scrums through out the 1st period.  Vernon would get the games first powerplay and capitalize after Ryan Renz's shot was stopped by Adam Todd before Liam Board jumped on the rebound giving the Vipers a 1-0 lead at 6:10 Renz and TJ Dumonceaux collected the helpers.  The Vipers would head right back to the powerplay a few minutes later but it was the Smoke Eaters who would kill off the minor as Vernon was outshooting Trail 9-3 early.  Vipers starting goaltender Danny Todosychuk had a fairly easy period but was forced to make a quick glove save off Valik Chichkin's point shot.  TJ Dumonceaux with a nice little move inside the Smokies blueline ripped his shot high past Adam Todd at 10:01 giving Vernon a 2-0 lead.  Dumonceaux's goal was unassisted.  The Vipers carried the better of the play and were the better team.  The Vipers would get their third powerplay of the night late and jump ahead 3-0 after TJ Dumonceaux with his 2nd of the night went topshelf at 17:46 on a goal setup by Colton Sparrow.  Under a minute later Trail would get their first powerplay of the night and finally get on the board.  Riley McDougall at 19:03 beat Todosychuk on a nice shot upstairs.  Tyler Berkholtz & Adam Wheeldon picked up the assists.  The Smokies didnt quit come back with some good push in the final minute before getting a very late three on one but Scott Davidson was stopped by Danny Todosychuk with 1.7 seconds remaining.  The Vipers carried the better of the play and were all over the Smoke Eaters up 3-1 after 20 minutes of play.  A very chippy and physical period with lots of scrums in and around the whistle.  Vernon outshot Trail 16-7.

2nd Period:  Just a minute and a half into the second period TJ Dumonceaux setup Andrew Tegeler on a two on one but Tegeler just missed the far corner.  Trail would get an early powerplay but couldnt take advantage after a fairly good penalty kill by the Vipers.  Just after the penalty expired Liam Board and Logan Mick would get a two on one, Board tried setting up Mick but the Trail d-man made a nice defensive play to break up the pass.  Board would regain the puck had Adam Todd beat but somehow missed the open cage firing wide on a great chance.  On the play Board would take a penalty sending the Smokies right back to the man advantage.  Danny Todosychuk made a nice save off Marley Keca with traffic in front as Vernon would kill off the minor.  The Smoke Eaters turned things around playing much better in the middle frame.  Todosychuk made another big save off Marley Keca's pointshot.  Keca tried out for the Vipers twice but was cut a few seasons back.  The Smoke Eaters seemed to shake off the bus legs and finally get skating were outplating the Vipers carrying the better of the play.  Vernon looked slow and sluggish for most of the second and just couldnt get much offence going.  After being outplayed for several minutes the Vipers got a break after Marc Hetnik's nice pass fed Aaron Hadley who scored a highlight reel goal giving Vernon a 4-1 lead at 14:31 Hetnik and Geoff Crisfield picked up the helpers.  Just seconds later Trail would get their third powerplay of the period but again couldnt take advantage as Vernon would kill off the penalty.  The final five or so minutes took forever to end as the play really slowed down with several back to back to back icing plays and lots of stopages in play.  Trail was by far the better of the two teams outplaying Vernon most of the period.  The Smoke Eaters worked hard but couldnt capitalize with three powerplays.  The Vipers with a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.  Trail outshot Vernon 15-5.

3rd Period:  Just 1:38 into the final frame Geoff Crisfield with a brutal giveaway through the puck right up the middle onto the stick of ex Whler Jesse Knowler who was stopped by Danny Todosychuk who made the first save but couldnt stop Knowler who banged away at the puck before sliding it in fivehole at 1:38 making this a two goal game.  Knowler's goal was unassisted.  And the wheels started to fall off for the Vipers as just twenty seconds later Trail with good pressure down low found Jesse Knowler in front again scored his second of the night at 1:58 making this a one goal game.  Luke Sandler and Scott Davidson picked up the assists.  Off the next faceoff Trail just about tied the game seconds later after Scott Davidson was stopped in front by Todosychuk who made a huge pad save as Trail was pressing.  Just seconds later Logan Mick & Braeden Jones dropped the gloves.  Vernon needed almost six minutes to record their first shot of the period. Their second shot of the period was very close to going in after Dexter Dancs would get stopped at the side of the net on a very close play.  The Vipers were shell shocked as Trail with lots of jump was taking it to Vernon and outplaying them.  The Vipers couldnt get through the neutral zone as the Smokies defence was solid come the 3rd period.  Trail would eventually tie the game 4-4 after Diego Bartlett beat Danny Todosychuk at 9:31 Austin Adduono & Mitch Foyle picked up the helpers.  About a minute and a half later Morgan Johnston and Braeden Jones dropped the mits, Jones was tossed from the game for his second fight of the night.  Just fifty four seconds later Trail would get a shot with the man advantage and complete the comeback after Diego Bartlett scored his second of the night at 13:08 giving the Smokies a 5-4 lead.  Adam Wheeldon collected the lone assist as Vernon blew a 3-0 and 4-1 lead.  Trail went to shutdown mode and played very well defensively shutting down the Vipers, forechecking hard.  The Vipers who had troubles getting through the neutral zone were in shock.  The Vipers would pull Danny Todosychuk with 1:09 remaining with some pressure deep in the Smokies zone the Vipers didnt get much to work with as Trail's defence blocked the shooting lanes and kept the Vipers to the outside.  In the dying seconds the Vipers moved the puck around to Ryan Renz who was robbed by Adam Todd who come across the crease to make the huge save off Renz with 2.7 seconds remaining.  The buzzer would end as the Smokies with a huge comeback knocked off the Vipers 5-4.  At the buzzer tempers heated up with several players involved, pushing and shoving with one Trail player on top of Ryan Renz.  Both benches were yapping back and forth as words were being exchanged.  The Trail bench was showing the Vipers bench the scoreboard as these two teams dont like one another in the final meeting of the season.  Trail took the season series 4-3.  The Smoke Eaters outplayed and outworked the Vipers in the 3rd outshooting Vernon 20-11.

Top Players:  (Vernon)

TJ Dumonceaux (2 goals & 1 assist)  Was the Vipers best player tonight.  Dumonceaux who is one of the hardest working kids scored two real nice goals played with lots of speed and jump.

Logan Mick played a strong game for the Vipers, dropping the gloves played physical and played with alot of energy and jump.  Mick always plays hard and worked hard tonight in a losing cause.

Andrew Tegeler I thought played very well tonight.  Tegeler who has been playing well as of late worked hard seemed to have some kind of beef with the Smokies as both Tegeler and several Trail players were getting involved after the whistles.

Brendan Persley was another kid who played and worked hard all night.  Persley also played physical.

Game Thoughts:  (Vernon)

In all my years of watching Junior hockey in Vernon (22 years with season tickets) I cant recall ever watching Vernon blow a lead like they did tonight heading into the 3rd period.  Up 3-0 and 4-1 going into the 3rd who would have picked Trail to come back to win the game 5-4?  Sure Ive seen Vernon blow leads in past years but never by three goals heading into the final period.  Up 3-0 in the 1st the Vipers looked very good, playing well I thought Vernon was the better of the two teams and caught a Trail team that had been riding the bus for hours.  Up 3-1 after the opening period it looked like the Vipers were going to walk away with the game, especially up 4-1 after the first two periods.  Something happened between periods because the Vipers wernt the same club that I saw in the opening period.  Vernon looked slow and sluggish at times and was unable to really generate much offence.  The Vipers didnt look good in thwe 2nd and 3rd periods and it cost them in a game where they should have won.  Vernon with just three wins in their last ten games have really gone into the tank at the wrong time of year.  This team is struggling and struggling bigtime.  I have been saying this all season, the Vipers are very uncosistant.  You dont know what Viper team is going to showup each night.  After a very good played, hard fought 4-3 OT win over West Kelowna last weekend the Vipers come back with an effort like tonight.  Adam Tambellini was scratched tonight and rumors going around the arena say he has been traded to Chilliwack.

Top Players:  (Trail)

Marley Keca played very well on the Smokies backend.

Braeden Jones also played well for Trail on the blueline.  Jones played with a bit of an edge tonight, was very fiesty and getting under the skin of several Vipers tonight before being tossed after two fights.

Adam Wheeldon (2 assists)  Another player who played with an edge, was getting under the skin of several Viper players.  Wheeldon was involved in alot of the after the whistle activities through out tonights game.

The line of Jesse Knowler (2 goals), Luke Sandler (1 assist) & Scott Davidson (1 assist) was Trails best unit tonight.  I didnt notice Sandler or Knowler at all in the opening period but this line really picked it up in the 2nd and played well for the remainder of the game.

Game Thoughts:  (Trail)

Word was the game was delayed tonight due to the fact that the Smokies bus was stopped on the highway for over two hours as the roads were closed.  Trail didnt arrive to the Wesbild Centre until 6:15pm  The Smoke Eaters left home this morning at 11am wich made for one long bus trip.  After watching the opening period it sure looked like Trail had the bus legs as the Smokies were outplayed pretty bad fell behind 3-0 before slowly battling back.  Trail really started to pick up their game in the 2nd period and continued the strong play into the 3rd.  The Smokies who moved the puck well didnt quit, played physical, dropped the gloves and didnt back away from the rough stuff.  Maybe this game will be a turning point in the Smoke Eaters season.  A huge win moves Trail to within two points of 4th place Salmon Arm who holds the final playoff spot.  The Smokies and Silverbacks battle Friday in an all important game.  Give Trail credit for sticking with their game plan and really taking it to Vernon for the final two periods.  The Smokies played well defensively and deserve full credits for the win.  For a team that hadnt won in Vernon in several years before this season has won three straight at the Wesbild Centre.

Scratches:

Trail:

Brent Baltus
Bryce Knapp
Garrett McMullen

Vernon:

Adam Tambellini
Braeden Russell
Craig Martin (Injured)

Energy Player Of The Game:

Adam Wheeldon (2 assists)

Three Stars:

1st Star:  Diego Bartlett (2 goals)
2nd Star:  Jesse Knowler (2 goals)
3rd Star:  TJ Dumonceaux (2 goals & 1 assist)

For more on tonight's game visit the boxscore,

http://www.bchl.ca/leagues/hockey_boxscores.cfm?clientID=1413&leagueID=2393&gameID=1103044&link=bchl

For more on the Trail Smoke Eaters & tonight's game visit Chris Wahl's Smoke Eaters blog,

http://off-the-wahl.blogspot.ca/

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