The Vipers were looking for a much better performance from the night before. It had to be to the best situation for the Vipers to play less than 24 hours later. It wasn't easy and they had to fight through a little bit of controversy, but they would end the island road trip with 4 of 6 points.
You could sense the Vipers were motivated as they were skating hard and skating fast and it really made for a good free flowing first period. The Bulldogs who had a 6 game losing streak coming in were also extremely motivated and the two teams played the game the right way. The Snakes would open the scoring after a bad defensive turnover by the Bulldogs. Hannoun would score the goal and it was 1-0. The Viper powerplay continued to struggle and actually gave up a goal as Tryg Strand would breakaway shorthanded. He would be stopped by the left pad of Stiliadis, but following up was Georgeson and he would tie it up. Goaltending was good in the period and it would end 1-1.
The Vipers started to spend a little bit more time in the offensive zone and it was only a matter of time before the levees broke. TJ Dumonceaux would start it all with a 2 on 1 where he opted to keep and snapped it past the glove of LaCouvee. A little over 3 minutes later McNicholas would come out of the penalty box and rush up the ice and get a shot away from the left circle to give the Snakes a 2 goal lead. Credit the Bulldogs they responded quickly as Tryg Strand would out muscle the Viper defender and backhand a shot past Stiliadis to get it back within one. It took 49 seconds for the Vipers to get that two goal lead back as McNicholas would score his 2nd of the night by keeping on a two on one and snapping it over the glove. Brendan Persley would score the eventual game winner by finding an open spot in the slot and chipping the pass over LaCouvee late in the 2nd. It was 5-2 Vipes after 40 minutes.
In the third, cue the controversy. While shorthanded TJ Dumonceaux would break away and snap a shot over the arm of LaCouvee. It hit the back bar and shot out of the net extremely quickly resulting in a no goal call. Instead of it being 6-2, it remained 5-2 with the Bulldogs still on the powerplay. That break seemed to energize the dogs as they came out firing as Hunter Stewart would chip into the lead with a powerplay marker. Then just 9 seconds later a perfectly placed wrist shot from Scott Clark had the Dogs within one and everything seemed to be falling apart. The Dogs would continue to push and push, but the Vipers kept their composure, blocked a few shots and scored 2 empty netters, one from McNicholas for the hat trick and one from Michael Statchuk, which was his first goal in the BCHL so congratulations to him. Final score would be 7-4
My 3 Key Thoughts
1) The No Goal - Without question it was the turning point of the game. Instead of it being out of reach it gave life to the Bulldogs. In the post game show, Jason Williamson said stuff like that happens and you have to move on and regroup. It didn't exactly happen that way, but hey to the referees credit they did try to sort it out and took the time to try and get it right. I just feel for TJ Dumonceaux who was one of the best Vipers on the ice who won't get that goal added to his stats.
2) Love That Barn - I've only been there twice, but the Bulldogs rink has to be one of my favorites. It was a Sunday afternoon, for a team that was struggling and they still brought in over a thousand people who were in the game all the way and cheering for their team. I have a ton of respect for that and wish we made more trips there.
3) Finally! - It took 73 BCHL games for Michael Statchuk to score a goal and even though it was an empty netter it still counts. Look out BCHL, once you get the first one, they start to pile up!
Overall, to quote Meatloaf, "Two of out three ain't bad". The Vipers won 2 of 3, and head home with 4 of 6 points and remain within striking distance of the leaders in the Interior Division with a huge game coming up at the SOEC, Friday night against the Vees.
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