The Kamloops Venom made sure there was no Vernon Tigers comeback this time around.
The Venom won their second straight Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League championship, and third in five years, Tuesday night at Kal Tire Place in Vernon, holding on to edge the Tigers 10-7 to complete a three-game sweep of the best-of-five final.
The two teams have met in the final the last five years with Kamloops winning three titles, including last year, where they jumped out to a 2-0 series lead only to watch the Tigers win the next two to force a fifth and deciding game in Vernon, which the Venom won 15-14.
“Last year, we were up 2-0 and it was kind of a surprise to everyone including us,” said Kamloops captain Riley Peterson who, along with teammate Kyle Pauwels, had two goals and three assists in the clincher.
“We didn’t want to repeat last year and try to win it at home, we wanted to end it right here, right now and get it done with. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”
The Venom, who finished second to the Tigers (13-2-1) at 11-5 in the regular season, went 6-0 in the TOJLL playoffs, and now advance to the B.C. Junior B championships next weekend in Coquitlam.
Kamloops put Vernon in a bit of a hole late in the first period Tuesday, extending a 3-2 lead to 5-2 with pair of goals 22 seconds apart in the final minute of the frame.
The Venom led 8-4 after two, then watched Vernon pull to within a goal at 8-7 with 7:13 left in the game. Goals from Pauwels, in his fifth and final year in the league, and Brenden Bickert 1:45 apart sealed the championship for Kamloops.
The Tigers got goals from seven different players with Jordy Barr leading the offence with four points.
Matt Hans made 51 saves to get the win while Darnell Hauca stopped 36 shots for Vernon, who have gone 29-2-1 in the last two regular seasons under head coach Chris Scabar, but have no championships to show for it.
“It kills us,” said Scabar of the series loss. “It’s pretty upsetting for me, especially as an older coach. It was a tough series. They (Kamloops) are a very good club, they really are. Half of my team are first-year players, so we got lots of development and I think we’re going to be great again.”