Vipers Fall To Silverbacks

It was a rough night for the Vernon Vipers to open the post Showcase schedule with a 6-1 loss.

The Vipers would get off to a great start to the game out shooting and greatly out playing the Silverbacks in the opening 5 minutes.  Unfortunately that momentum was difficult to maintain and it therefore shifted to the Salmon Arm side.  The Backs would capitalize on a broken play from the corner as Colton Thibault would have a few whacks at the puck in front of Danny Todosychuk and finally put it into the cage to give the Backs a 1-0 lead.  The turning point in my mind was a monumental fight at centre ice.  Captain Ryan Renz would square off with Backs captain Blake Box for a tilt and it was a very spirited even affair with Box getting credit for the take down.  It was the take down that did the most damage as Renz would limp off to the dressing room and not return.  No word on how serious the injury, we hope to find out more tonight.

The start to the second period was very reminiscent of the first for the Vipes as they would put a lot of pressure on the Backs defenders and finally the hard worked paid off after a great individual effort from Michael McNicholas.  He would find Matty Saharchuk positioned at the side of the goal and he would score his first of the season to equalize the game.  That tie would be short lived as the Vipers did an impressive job on the PK to kill of a powerplay, but couldn't get the puck out of the zone as play went back to five on five and that would prove costly as Alex Gillies would score his 3rd of the season to give SA the lead.  Colton Thibault would make his presence felt again as he blocked a shot from the blue line and went in on a break away to score his 2nd of the season and 2nd of the night to give the Backs a 2 goal lead heading to the third period.

It was all Salmon Arm in the third period as Carter Brown-Maloski would score on a penalty shot, followed by another Gillies tally and a Jack Berezan goal late in regulation.

My 3 key thoughts:

1) Powerplay just wasn't clicking.  The Vipers powerplay went 0 for 6 and really struggled to get their shots through to the net.

2) Late in the game, I thought the Vipers started to feel the pressure and that turned into frustration which led to a lack of discipline.

3) Health.  Playing with only 5 defenders, it looked as if the Vipers started to get a little tired and looked a little slow late in the game.

The one benefit to last nights game, is that the Vipers get to put it behind them right away and face the Backs on home ice in front of a good Vipers crowd.  They'll look to deal the Silverbacks a bit of their own medicine in game 2 of the home and home set.

You can catch all the action tonight at Kal Tire Place starting at 7.  Tickets go onsale at 4pm at the box office.  If you can't make it to the game, you can listen to Village Green Hotel Vipers Hockey on 1075 KissFM starting with the pre game show at 6:45!