Morning Star Staff
The Vernon Home Building Centre Vipers open ther Midget Tier 2 hockey tournament Friday night (6:15, Civic Arena) against the Bow Valley Flames of Calgary.
The Vipers prepped for their home tourney by icing the West Kelowna Warriors 4-2 in Okanagan Mainline League play Sunday afternoon at Civic.
Vernon outshot West Kelowna 71-27, including a 20-6 margin in a scoreless opening first.
West Kelowna jumped on their opportunity early in the second by converting off a two-on-one rush played well by d-man Lucas Wood who slid to block the pass as the West Kelowna player shot into Ty Sedlacek. Wood’s slide ended up bumping the tender which knocked the puck into the net at 18:50 of the second period.
Connor Johnston evened the score on a shorthanded snipe at 9:03 after picking off a puck at the Viper blueline and taking it wide to snap the shot high blocker.
West Kelowna gave the Vipers another Halloween scare, scoring 1:48 into the third to take their second lead of the game.
The Snakes battled back to tie it at 11:37 on a powerplay marker stuffed under the goalie by Damian Coljee-Fehr. West Kelowna kept it tied until the Vipers Joe Eggert pocketed the winner, picking up a turnover at Vernon’s blueline and going in alone deking the West Kelowna tender with another blocker side goal at 2:39.
Kyle Sherwood registered an empty netter with 1:20 remaining.
Said Vernon head coach Jared Barendregt: “It was nice to finally get a win at home for our fans. The guys battled hard in the third and came out on top.”
The Vipers meet the North Zone Tier 1 team from Salmon Arm in their second tourney game Saturday at 9:15 a.m. and then tangle with the Ridge Meadows Flames at 4 p.m. (Civic).
The visiting Vernon Sun Valley Source For Sports Bantam Tier 1 Vipers lost 4-2 to Kamloops Saturday afternoon.
Kamloops ruled the first period but only managed to get one by a stellar Cayden Hamming.
Kamloops took a 1-0 lead into the third period before Vernon’s Issac Thomas responded 30 seconds into the period with the assist going to Mason Robinson.
Trevor Kennedy gave the Vipers the lead less than a minute later with Colby Feist picking up the assist. Vernon took some undisciplined penalties and the talented Blazers took advantage to score three in a row.
Tempers flared at the end as several players ended up in the penalty box after a brief scrum. Cameron Moger, playing his first game of the season after recovering from a shoulder injury, had a strong outing.
The Watkin Motors Pee Wee Tier 2 Mustangs lost 5-2 to the West Kelowna Warriors in Sunday’s gold-medal final of the Penticton Pee Wee Vees Tier 2 Tournament.
Erik Pastro and Jarred Feist produced the goals for the Mustangs.
“We have had some tough games with West Kelowna this year and Sunday was no exception,” said Watkin Motors head coach Trevor Seibel. “We got into some penalty trouble in the last half of the game and dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t get out of.”
The Stangs breezed through the round-robin posting wins over Burnaby (12-0), Ridge Meadows (7-2) and Surrey (6-3).
Offensively Vernon was sparked by Austin Roest (2+8), Feist (5+4), Deagan McMillan (3+3), Pastro (4+1), Bennett Kuhnlein (3+1), JJ Milne (3+0), Cash Anderson (1+2), Braden Schmiegelt (2+1), Tyler Burke (1+2) and Cosmo Wilson (1G).
The Mustangs mauled Penticton 8-2 in the Sunday early-morning special with Kuhnlein, Jace Weir and Roest each supplying deuces and singles going to Pastro and Feist. Goalie Austin Seibel was superb, making an all-world glove save on a 2-on-1 break early in the first period.
In Midget Tier 3 play, the Coca-Cola Vipers rallied to tie the Banff Hockey Academy 4-4 Sunday after shelling Summerland 9-0 Saturday.
Lincoln Connor, Gavin Fleck, Jaden Foster and Cam Mckenzie earned snipes in the comeback win. It was 4-1 Banff after two periods.
Dayton Bryant pulled the hat trick as the Coke crew ambushed Summerland.
Connor, with a pair, Chris Moore, Ethan Joe, Chris Aldrich and Jake Brewer completed the Vernon offence in front of Jordan Foster and Noah Foufulous.
The Salmon Arm Silvertips lost 4-1 to host Kamloops in Female Midget A action Sunday.
Taylor Thomlinson of the Tips faced 36 shots and provided some incredible saves to keep things 1-1 until the middle of the third period.
The Tips got a breakaway opportunity and fantastic overall play from Tareyn Hanson. Power forward Wynter Vanderveen scored for Salmon Arm, assisted by Ava Wutke. The Tips welcomed back defensive ace Sarah Whitehead after a long recovery from injury.