I was born and raised in Vernon, BC and been watching/following Junior hockey in Vernon my whole life. My family watched Senior men's hockey in Vernon in the 1950's and has been watching Junior hockey in Vernon since it started in 1961. I have two family members that played Junior hockey in Vernon. I have had season tickets since 1990 and missed 5 home games since 2004 and 46 home games since 1990. I started and created this blog in November 2008 and have over 2.6 million viewers. For anyone who couldn't watch or attend tonight's Vipers game, here are my thoughts and views from tonight's hockey game. You may agree or disagree, but we all have our own opinion on the hockey game and see things differently. I try to be professional and give a fare game recap from both sides. Thank you for visiting my blog.
I was at tonight's Vernon Vipers-West Kelowna Warriors game as the Warriors defeated the Vipers 4-1 in front of 2,449 fans at Kal Tire Place.
Starting Goaltenders:
Vernon Vipers: Ethan David
West Kelowna Warriors: Rorke Applebee
1st Period: The visiting West Kelowna Warriors jumped on the Vipers early and often and dominated the opening frame from start to finish. The Warriors with an aggresive forecheck, were hard in on pucks, winning the races, puck battles, battles along the wall, carried the play most of the period, outskated, outworked and outshot the Vipers. Callum Hughes opened the scoring at 5:30 on the Warriors fifth shot of the period. The Tribe with several good looks/opportunities through out the period. WK scored on a late power play with 1.4 seconds remaining but the goal was waived off. No explanation from the officials. The Vipers looked flat, weren't skating, caught flat footed/standing around, were losing all puck battles, races and board battles. Vernon played most of the period in their own end, struggled offensively to get through the neutral zone, needed six and a half minutes to record their first shot of the hockey game. Vernon saw very little to no time in the offensive zone. The Snakes didn't show up to play and were lucky only to be down a goal. Ethan David kept his team in the period. The officials were letting both teams play hockey as several calls were missed on both sides. It was 1-0 West Kelowna after 20 minutes of play. West Kelowna outshot Vernon 15-2.
2nd Period: The Warriors jumped on the hometown Vipers for a second straight period. West Kelowna was the better team for most of the period. Just like the opening period, the Tribe were strong on the forecheck, winning all the puck battles, races and coming out with the puck. The Warriors were quick with and without the puck, were outskating Vernon. I didn't think WK had nearly as many opportunities this period. The Snakes played a little better for a small amount of time. The Vipers would finally generate a little offence and create a couple of good looks/opportunities and played fairly well for about four or five minutes but overall the Warriors carried most of the play and were the better of the two teams. The Tribe went 0-1 with the man advantage. It was 1-0 West Kelowna after 40 minutes of play. Shots were 7-7.
3rd Period: The Snakes with a good start to the final frame, would finally get their legs going and get some early zone time off the opening puck drop. Vernon finally seemed to show up in the final period and played their best hockey of the evening, but it was too little, too late. The Vipers gave up an early goal, 2:35 into the 3rd to fall behind 2-0 The Warriors would take their first penalty of the night after being called for too many men, early into the period. Vernon would struggle with the man advantage but score shortly after the minor expired, cutting West Kelowna's lead to 2-1 at 5:55 Vernon played much better and had the edge in play at times but also struggled at times before the Warriors put the game away with two more goals. Felix Caron with the 3rd period hat trick. The Tribe played very well defensively, boxing out the Vipers on the PP and limiting Vernon's time and space. The Warriors split the home and home series with a 4-1 victory. West Kelowna outshot Vernon 10-6.
Vernon Vipers Top Performers:
Jiri Duda I thought played hard and made some plays through out the hockey game.
Owen Kim (1 assist) Played hard, played with energy and was involved in some of the after the whistle activities.
Hank Cleaves I thought was one of if not the Snakes best player. Cleaves created/generated some open ice/plays
Ethan David (28 saves) Was by far the busier of the two goaltenders and kept his team in the hockey game.
Game Thought's: Vernon Vipers
- The Vipers seven game winning streak comes to an end
- Vernon plays their worst game of the season
- The Vipers go 0-2 with the power play
- The Snakes didn't show up tonight and were outplayed most of the night
- Vernon looked flat, weren't skating, caught standing around, lost all puck battles, races and outworked
- A large crowd tonight and the biggest crowd of the season. Tonight's attendance 2,449
- After a big come from behind overtime win in West Kelowna on Wednesday, I was really looking forward to tonight's game and didn't expect a game like we saw tonight
- The Vipers next game is Monday in Seattle, Washington at the BCHL Showcase vs Coquitlam
- The Snakes didn't look good or play good. I thought Vernon played well for about four or five minutes in the 2nd period and finally seemed to show up in the 3rd. The Snakes finally were able to generate some chances and played well/carried some of the edge in play in the 3rd
- Vernon went 0-2 vs West Kelowna in the pre-season
- The Vipers begin a four game road trip starting Monday at the BCHL Showcase
- Just before the midway mark of the 3rd period, Vernon gets a power play but thirty one seconds later take a penalty of their own, taking away an opportunity to tie the game
- The Vipers lay an egg on home ice and need to be much much better
- The Snakes lose their first game at home this season are 3-1-0-0 at Kal Tire Place
- The Snakes were lucky they were still in this game to start the 3rd period and West Kelowna didn't already have the game put away prior to the 3rd
- Vernon went lengthy periods of time in all three periods without a shot on goal
- The Vipers didn't get any traffic in front of Rorke Applebee and clearly not enough pucks to the net. Vernon struggled offensively all night, weather it was getting pucks to the net or generating opportunities
- Vernon wasn't getting the bounces or any puck luck
- The Vipers next home game is November 1st vs Cranbrook
- The Vipers defence were allowing the Warriors to carry the play into the offensive zone untouched, before walking in and getting a shot or scoring chance
With the loss, Vernon falls to 7-2-0-0 drop to 2nd place (tied in points with Penticton) in the Interior Division
The West Kelowna Warriors snapped Vernon's seven game winning streak. The last time the Vipers had won eight straight games was during the 2009-10 season when the Vipers won twenty one straight games. The West Kelowna Warriors were the team that night to snap Vernon's twenty one game winning streak
Here is a look back at some of the Vipers longest winning streaks over the past few seasons
2011-12 7 straight wins
2009-10 7 straight wins
2009-10 21 straight wins
2008-09 9 straight wins & 7 straight wins
2007-08 8 straight wins
2006-07 8 straight wins
2004-05 9 straight wins & 7 straight wins
West Kelowna Warriors Top Performers:
Trey Ausmus I thought played well on the backend, played with some grit as well
Dylan Brooks saw a lot of ice time, was very steady on the Warriors blueline
Felix Caron 3 goals) Scored all three goals in the 3rd, played very well through out the game. I thought Caron played with a lot of jump/energy and was one of if not the Warriors best player in the win
Jack Farrell (1 assist) Was another West Kelowna defenceman that looked good/played well
Rorke Applebee (15 saves) Wasn't tested often but was forced to make a couple of big saves with the score still 1-0
Game Thought's: West Kelowna Warriors
- These two teams will meet again November 29th in Vernon
- The Warriors lost to Vernon 4-3 in overtime in West Kelowna on Wednesday
- West Kelowna was by far the better team, dominated the 1st period and most of the night
- The Tribe went 0-2 with the man advantage
- Warriors Assistant Coach Josh Gorges was captain of the Kelowna Rockets Memorial Cup winning team, played fourteen seasons in the NHL with Buffalo, San Jose and Montreal
- The Warriors next game is Monday at the BCHL Showcase vs Langley
- WK was strong on the forecheck all night, won most puck battles and races
- The Tribe never stopped skating, outskated and outworked Vernon most of the night
- The Warriors played very well defensively, boxed out the Vipers on the PP and kept Vernon to the outside, limiting their chances
- The Warriors improve to 3-1-0-0 on the road this season
- The Warriors scored on the power play with 1.4 seconds remaining in the 1st period, but the goal was waived off. No explanation from the officials why the goal was called off
- The Vipers & Warriors meet five times during the regular season
- Warriors Head Coach/GM Simon Ferguson played for the Kelowna Rockets Memorial Cup winning team
- The Warriors were wearing new jerseys tonight. Were these new road jerseys or the teams alternate jerseys?
- This Warriors team played hard, battled, competed and never stopped skating. You have to like their compete level
- With the win, West Kelowna improves to 7-2-1-0 move into 1st place in the Interior Division
Scratches:
Vernon Vipers:
Jordin Palmer
Owen King
West Kelowna Warriors:
Ben Henshall
Zhenya Miles
Kaiden Schaupmeyer
Viggo Nordstrom
Matthew DellaRusso
Energy Player of the Game:
Owen Kim (1 assist)
Three Star's:
1st Star: Felix Caron (3 goals)
2nd Star: Brennan Nelson (1 assist)
3rd Star: Luke Buss (1 goal)
Boxscore-Game Summary,
Game Report,
Text Box Score,
Vernon Junior Hockey History website,
Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions in the comment box below. Please be respectful when leaving comments.
What a bad game last night. Vipers had no puck luck and got beat to the puck all night. it was a great crowd last night
ReplyDeleteA terrible game! Vipers looked like they were playing a man down all night. Ethan David is the only reason the game was even close until midway in the third. After that it was lights out for Vernon.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the disallowed goal was kicked into the net.
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to see a large crowd last night. Would be great if they could get crowds like that all season. My sister went to buy a bottle of water and a tea at the concession and they wanted $8 so she told them to keep it
ReplyDeleteIts probably been more than 10 years since the Vipers won any type of game regular season or playoff game when they've played in front of a big crowd. Too bad they were so bad.
ReplyDeleteBingo 5-2 Vipers it was close 4-1 Warriors! Oh well I am sure you had fun with your friends! Go Vipers Go!
ReplyDeleteEd Johnstone,Troy Mick,Mark Ferner as previous head coaches all stressed conditioning as an common denominator to championship success. Watching the game on friday against west kelowna it really showed up that the vernon vipers looked tired and didn't have the effort to put that game in the win column. Perhaps the coaches need to look at this team and it's conditioning. I know the coaches I have mentioned stressed it and put the effort in to make sure its team had the conditioning to play all three periods with the same effort. GO,vipers,Go.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should say this Bingo,I was talking with someone vey close to the Vipers and they told me the players have been on a very strict conditioning program led by Lukas Lomicky. With 4 games in the next 7 days and lots of travel I guess we'll see how conditioned they really are.
ReplyDeleteThank you Bobby C. for the info. Glad for you to sure this news. I am glad that is the case. Go,Vipers,GO.
ReplyDelete