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Kamloops Venom take TOJLL opener

Venom score seven in the second period to roll to a 9-5 win over the Vernon Tigers in opening game of best-of-five final.
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The Kamloops Venom beat the Vernon Tigers 9-5 in the opening game of the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League championship in Vernon Saturday night.

The Kamloops Venom scored seven times in the second period to roll to a 9-5 win on the road over the Vernon Tigers in the opening game of the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League final Saturday at Kal Tire Place.

Game 2 in the best-of-five series goes Sunday night at the Kamloops Memorial Arena. Game 3 returns to Vernon Tuesday.

The defending playoff champion Venom – making their 10th straight appearance in the league final – became the first team this season to hold the Tigers scoreless in a period.

Rylan Van Unen scored the only goal of the first period for Kamloops.

The Venom – who blew a 7-0 lead in Vernon in the final regular season game, a 16-13 loss – extended their lead to 4-0 in the middle frame before Vernon scored twice in 14 seconds to cut the deficit in half.

After a Kamloops timeout, the teams erupted for six goals in the next 5:08 with the Venom leading 8-4 after 40 minutes.

The teams traded goals in the final period with Conor Webb scoring for the Tigers with just 31 seconds left.

Venom goalie Dalan Etter was the game’s first star, making 49 saves and blanking the Tigers for approximately 52 minutes, while counterpart Darnell Hauca made 50 saves for the Tigers to earn second star honours.

Monty Chisholm, the game’s third star, had two goals for Kamloops, Kyle Pauwels had 2+3 and Van Unen also added a pair. Singles went to Brenden Bickert, Riley Peterson and Bowen Stauffer.

Tylor Seabrooke added four assists while Kolby Pauwels chipped in three helpers.

Quintin Harrish led the regular season champion Tigers with 1+3, Ryan Sarazin had 1+2 while other goals went to Webb, Brett Olsen and Jordy Barr.

Sniper Jordan Orr hit three goalposts behind Etter.

Kamloops went 1-3 with the man advantage, Vernon was 2-4.

The two teams have met in the league final for the past four years, each team winning the title twice.

This year’s winner will represent the TOJLL at the Provincial Junior B championships starting July 28 in Coquitlam.