This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:
Vipers reloading for 2018-19
Vipers lose Game 6 in OT
Vipers lose Game 6 in OT
Kevin Mitchell
Mar. 27, 2018
Mark Ferner was in his office Tuesday morning, trying to get over the numbness from being knocked out of the playoffs while recruiting all over North America for next season.
The Vipers finished second overall in the 17-team B.C. Hockey League and were picked by many to reach the national championship Royal Bank Cup in Chilliwack.
Things first starting going sideways when the Vipers lost beloved longtime franchise owner Duncan Wray, who died in his sleep Jan. 11, at age 68.
Two weeks later, the Vipers lost NHL prospect Josh Prokop, who rang up three hat tricks and 21 goals before being sidelined for the season with a shoulder injury.
Vernon stuck together and got through the loss of Wray and Prokop, finishing with a 10-game winning streak before losing Game 3 of the best-of-seven quarterfinal series to the Wenatchee Wild. The Vipers went 7-1 in February.
The Snakes’ season appeared headed in the proper fashion when they went up 2-0 on the Wild with captain Jagger Williamson using duct tape to stick to power forward and league MVP Jasper Weatherby, holding him pointless in Games 1 and 2. Williamson was suspended for Games 4 and 5, both losses, for taking his third goaltender interference penalty of the season in the third game.
Centre Brett Stapley, also an NHL prospect, was concussed in Game 3 and lost for the series. Monster d-man Shane Kelly, as intimidating the mean as they come in the BCHL was sorely missed all series on Injured Reserve.
The depleted Snakes earned their shower every shift in a 3-2 double overtime loss to the Wild before the loudest crowd of the season Friday night at Kal Tire Place before losing 4-3 in overtime Saturday night in Wenatchee to close their season.
“It’s very, very disappointing for the players,” said Ferner. “We ran out of gas, we ran out of bodies. I let them know how proud of them I was. I always talk about not beating ourselves and we certainly didn’t do that. I’ve always said you need good goaltending, good defence and a little luck to win in the playoffs and we didn’t get any luck. Sometimes it’s a war of attrition. The best part about this group was they didn’t quit and the best thing you can do for a teammate is put in an unwavering effort.”
Ferner said the line of Derek Brown, Jimmy Lambert and Alex Swetlikoff had enough Grade A chances for five goals, while Josh Latta just missed on a breakaway.
“I kept saying to myself, “We need a goal here when it was 3-1 for us.’ Tip of the hat to Wenatchee, they’re a good team. I told the guys whoever won this series would win the Royal Bank Cup. Credit to them.”
Ferner, assisted by Kevin Kraus and Kevin Pedersen, was high on his roster.
“It was a great group of kids. The kids we brought in did what we expected and we wanted. Every kid that came here said it was the best group they had ever played with. We have to continue to build on that culture.”
The Vipers lose most of their core group, but d-man Michael Young (9-23-32) of Boston has de-committed from the UConn Huskies and will join Jack Judson and Mitch Andres as minute-munchers on the back end. There are rumblings that Ariona State Sun Devils, who have 19 forwards recruited, may ask centre Jordan Sandhu to play one more year with the Vipers. Same goes for Williamson, a Western Michigan Wildcats’ commit.
Winger Keyvan Mokhtari will wait a year before playing for the Colorado College Tigers.
Rookie winger Elan Bar-Lev-Wise, who was summoned from Burnaby Winter Club Midgets (23-39-61) for the last part of the Wenatchee series, and freshman d-man Will Dow Kenny, who saw some action with Vernon (8-22-30 with Fraser Valley Major Midget Thunderbirds) will be regulars in 2018-19. Bar-Lev-Wise, 17, already has a scholarship with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Playing like a team with their season on the line Saturday, the Vipers got on the board first on a Brown shot fired from the left circle. Ufberg drew the assist at 3:31.
Just under 10 minutes later, Brown set up Lambert for a similar score from the opposite wing on a 2-on-1 rush. Swetlikoff earned the secondary helper.
D-man Zak Galambos blasted home a shot from the left circle as a Wild power play expired almost three minutes later.
The Wild trailed 2-1 until a defensive zone gaffe allowed Niko Karamanis to walk in alone on Austin Park and tuck a nifty shot around him low to the glove side. It was 3-1 Vernon after 40 minutes.
The energy of the Wolves Den seemed to lift the Wild to a level that transcended physical fatigue in the third period. The determined Wild peppered Viper goalie and third star Ty Taylor with 27 shots in the third period with Weatherby lasering a shot high, glove side, after walking off from the right wing wall at 4:27, and Sam Hesler equalized at 12:33 after Murphy Stratton entered the zone on the right wing and snapped a crisp pass across to the left size where Cooper Zech was entering across the Viper blue line. Zech’s shot was finished off by Sam Hesler standing at the top of the crease. The game was tied at 3-3 and the building was sizzling.
Wenatchee had two power play chances in the final five minutes but couldn’t find the equalizer, sending the game to overtime for the second consecutive evening. It took just over three and a half minutes. Wenatchee ripped seven shots at Taylor in overtime, and Park never saw a single one. As consistent pressure stayed in the Vipers’ zone, it was eventually captain AJ Vanderbeck who found a clear shooting lane to wire home the winner at 3:38.
The Wild will meet the Trail Smoke Eaters in a semifinal series starting Friday night in Wenatchee.
Veteran Ross Armour pocketed 2+1 as the Smokies bounced the Vees 4-2 in Game 7 Monday night before 4,324 fans at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Vernon’s Blaine Caton picked up one assist for the Smokies, who finished fourth in the Interior Division, 17 points behind Penticton.
The Vees sorely missed Toronto Maple Leafs’ draft Ryan O’Connell, a d-man, and high-scoring forward Grant Cruikshank in the playoffs. Both players were badly injured 25 games into the regular season.
Meanwhile, Quinnipiac Bobcats recruit Ethan de Jong bagged a deuce as the Prince George Spruce Kings dispatched the Surrey Eagles 4-0 in Game 7 before 2,112 fans Sunday night at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. The Kings take on the Powell River Kings in semifinal play.
De Jong compiled 10 points (5-5-10) in the series, including two goals in both Game 6. The Burnaby product posted the first two goals Monday night.
SNAKE BITES: Trainer Tyrol Deeg will not return to the Vipers after his three-year contract expired…Ferner plans to scout the national U16 and U18 tournament, April 5-10, in Philadelphia…Ferner says the Vees and Brooks Bandits are chasing the same elite goalie for next year. The Okotoks Oilers are riding a 27-game win streak going into the South final series with Brooks…Kelowna’s Ryan Moon is in his second year with Trail after one year of Junior B in Armstrong with the North Okanagan Knights.
2 comments:
Outstanding news if all return to the Vipers next year. Young is a very good D-man and Williamson, Sandhu & Mokhtari would supply lots of offence. It has been shown that there should not be a rush to move on to college, an extra year of Junior is usually always a benefit to the players. Throw in Bar-Lev-Wise & Dow Kenny and they are well on their way to a very good team again. Watch for Prokop, Swetlikoff, Marritt & Bilodeau to fill much bigger roles also.
Well done VDH, keep up the outstanding work. Your Blog is the Best.
I would like to take this time to congratulate the Vernon Vipers on a very exciting and one of the more successful regular seasons in years. It was the playoff run that was disappointing.
With Shane Kelly and Jack Judson out of the lineup to start the Wenatchee series, the Vipers defence was overworked and run out of gas as the series continued. It didn't help losing captain Jagger Williamson and Brett Stapley. Playing with a short bench Vernon couldn't keep up with the Wild, ran out of gas as the series continued. Why didn't the Vipers bring up an "AP" defenceman for the Wenatchee series? Mark Ferner said there were none available. Playing with just five defencemen was a killer. I also wonder with Williamson and Stapley out of the lineup, why wasn't Elan Bar-Lev-Wise used more, instead of shortening the bench even more? I know he played more in Game 5 & 6 but should have been used more in Games 3 & 4.
Who were these kids? All season we saw the Vipers average at least 15-20 shots a period on most nights and hold the opponents to less then 30 shots a game. In the Wenatchee series after Game 1 it was the opposite. The Wild outshot the Snakes for the remainder of the series in Games 2,3,4,5 & 6. During the regular season when leading after the 2nd period Vernon was a very impressive 30-1-0-1 but come the Playoffs-Wenatchee series it was a different story. The Vipers blew leads in the 3rd after leading in the 2nd period in Games 3 & 6. I never seen the Vipers turn over pucks in their own end in the regular season as much as I did come the Wenatchee series. The Viper top line of Jimmy Lambert, Jordan Sandhu and Brett Stapley were the Vipers go to line all regular season. Where was this line come playoffs? Sure they had their opportunities but weren't finding the back of the net-putting up the same numbers in the playoffs. The line of Derek Brown, Jordan Sandhu and Josh Latta lead the Viper attack in the opening round vs Salmon Arm. The Viper team I saw play in the Wenatchee series wasn't the same Viper team I watched during the regular season. The Vipers ran out of gas, were short bodies and banged up. My TSN Turning point was Game 3. In a game I watched online the Wild carried most of the play and were the better team. Wenatchee jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Vernon responded with three straight goals. The Snakes took a 3-2 lead into the 3rd before the Wild tied the game and then scored the game winner with fifty seven seconds left to get the 4-3 win. If the Vipers could have held onto this lead, Vernon would be in the drivers seat with a 3-0 series lead, instead Wenatchee gets a almost must win, gets back in the series, gets confidence and full momentum before blowing the Vipers out 7-1 in Game 4 to tie the series 2-2 and the Vipers couldn't regroup.
These kind of teams don't come along very often, it makes it that much more disappointing when they bowed out in the second round. With the season now over, it will be a long summer for Viper fans.
On the bright side next season looks a little promising. With a possible twelve players returning. (Michael Young, Josh Prokop, Connor Marritt, Jordan Sandhu, Jagger Williamson, Keyvan Mokhtari, Niko Karamanis, Jack Judson, Coleton Bilodeau, Alex Swetlikoff, Mitch Andres & Josh Latta.
I sure hope the Vipers have done their homework/recruiting as several big holes will be needed to fill next season's roster.
Looking at the final four teams remaining. Who would have picked Trail or Prince George to be four wins away from going to the Fred Page Cup?
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