Morning Star Staff
Early lead, great goaltending, raucous crowd, onto the finals.
Vernon Home Hardware Centre Vipers beat the Salmon Arm Silvertips 3-0 Saturday in front of a large, loud crowd at the Civic Arena to win their best-of-three Okanagan Mainland Tier 2 Midget Rep League semifinal two games to one.
The Vipers now meet the Penticton Vees for the Okanagan championship.
Conor Webb allowed just one goal in the last two games of the series for Vernon, the goal coming late in the third of game three.
Reed Cashato staked the Vipers to a 1-0 lead in the decider just 24 seconds in, set up by Connor Johnston and Carl Main.
Dex Elders made it 2-0 late in the frame, putting the puck in an open net on a nice feed from Kyle Sherwood. Bryce Pyle picked up a second assist.
Main struck in the middle of the third with Sherwood getting the only assist.
Thompson Okanagan Lakers tuned up for the Female AAA Midget Girls League playoffs in two weeks by sweeping their final three regular season games at home against the Kootenay Wild.
The Lakers outscored the Wild 9-1 in the three games with goalie Sydney Carter picking up two shutouts.
Vernon’s Jenna Fletcher had a goal and an assist in the opener Friday, a 4-0 Lakers win. Laine Grace and Samantha Head had assists.
The Lakers won game two Saturday, 2-1, with Fletcher setting up affiliate player Chanreet Bassi for the winner. Fletcher had an assist in Sunday’s finale, which ended 3-0.