Vipers Lose Stapley, Williamson Suspended:

This is on the Morning Star website:

Vipers lose Stapley, Williamson

Kevin Mitchell

Mar. 21, 2018 

The Vernon Vipers will be without two of their leading scorers for the next two games of their B.C. Hockey League best-of-seven quarterfinal series with the Wenatchee Wild.

Centre Brett Stapley suffered a concussion after taking a hit to the mouth by Wenatchee’s Nathan Iannone in the Wild’s 4-3 win before 1,703 fans Tuesday night at the Town Toyota Centre.

“Stapes is done,” said disgruntled Viper head coach Mark Ferner while reviewing video in the hotel lobby early this afternoon since his room was being cleaned. “He’s a tough kid and he played through it, but he complained of headaches after the game. He vomited so we took him to hospital for observation. There was no call on the play.”

Viper captain Jagger Williamson was assessed a goalie interference penalty in the third period, his third of the season which warrants a two-game suspension. Ferner filed an appeal to no avail.

“The goalie (Austin Park) was outside the blue paint and Jags was waiting for a slap pass and there was just a little contact. The referee right there didn’t make the call; the back referee did.”

The Vipers go into Game 4 tonight with a 2-1 series lead but very short on manpower. F Josh Prokop and D Shane Kelly are on Injured Reserve, while D Jack Judson has one game left in a four-game suspension. C Elan Lev Bar Wise, 17, of the Burnaby Winter Club, is with the Snakes.

“Talk about adversity; we’ve got five guys out. We kind of warned the guys that you don’t know what you’re going to get (from American officials) and we got it; five penalties in the first period which took some energy out of us. The refs put their whistles away in the second period and called one penalty. It’s crazy. Every time we touched them, their whole bench erupted. It’s embarrassing. The refs hear them yelling and they figure it must be a penalty.”

Sam Hesler’s first playoff goal with 57 seconds left in regulation time gave Wenatchee the must-win.

The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak (counting last four games of regular season) for the Vipers. Game 5 will be Friday at 7 p.m. at Kal Tire Place. A sixth game, if required, would go Saturday night in Wenatchee. Game 7 would be Monday night in Vernon.