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Midgets in shutout mode

The Vernon Home Hardware Centre Vipers posted a pair of shutout wins in Okanagan Mainline Midget Tier 2 Hockey League action.
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Connor Johnston of the Vernon Vipers gets past Kelowna Rockets’ d-man Tye Beray and goalie Owen Patrick to score on a nice wrap-around in Okanagan Mainline Midget Tier 2 Hockey League action Sunday at Civic Arena.

Morning Star Staff

The Vernon Home Hardware Centre Vipers posted a pair of shutout wins in Okanagan Mainline Midget Tier 2 Hockey League action.

Connor Webb went the distance Sunday afternoon as the Vipers grounded the Kelowna Rockets 2-0 at Civic Arena.

Vernon controlled the play in the first half of the game and Kelowna was lucky to get to the ice clean only down by one.

Hustling Connor Johnston stole the puck from Kelowna’s goalie and buried a wrap-around for the first goal.

Kelowna came out stronger after the break but Webb shut the door.

Logan Imrich took a pass from Kyle Sherwood and wired a hard slapshot for insurance. The Rockets struck the crossbar once in the final 20.

Vernon is second at 10-2-1 and has two road games this weekend to close the regular season.

The Vipers dispatched the league-leading Penticton Vees 5-0 in a Saturday matinee showdown at Memorial Arena.

Billy Cawthorn, who was a back-up for the BCHL Vernon Vipers Friday night in Salmon Arm, earned the shutout as the Vipers used hard work and team hustle to smother the league-leading Vees.

Reed Cashato and  Connor Johnston opened the scoring early in the second period on a gorgeous two-on-one with Cashato slipping a beautiful pass to Johnston for the easy convert.

Nick Cherkowski made a nice move on a d-man and made it 2-0 on a well-placed shot. Harvey Pawsey took the hit to make the play that sent Cherkowski away.

Vernon took advantage of some undisciplined play by Penticton as Stephane Richard fired a shot top shelf as time ran out on a Vees’ penalty.

Vernon took the 3-0 lead into the ice clean and held off Penticton’s pushback as Dex Elders and Cherkowski put the game away. The referees kept the game under control as it had the potential to boil over.

Vernon was short three players and played with four defence for most of the game.

Injured forward Bryce Pyle is expected back in the lineup soon. D-man Gage Kopp had two helpers.

Penticton is 11-2-1 with two league games left.

The Vernon Fix Auto Vipers smothered the Salmon Arm Silvertips 20-5 in Bantam Tier 3 action Sunday.

Cole Boyarski scored six times for the Vipers, while Lucas Zubrod, Zack Laranjo and Cory Lazar had hat tricks. Ben  Reinhardt, Gavin Fleck, Connor Hansen, Chapperon Chillihitzia and Mason Robinson supplied singles.

Vernon only had four defencemen and two forward lines in front of Aidan Spraggs in Enderby.

The Fix Auto crew bowed 5-4 to  visiting Clearwater Saturday morning .

Clearwater took a 4-1 lead after the first period before the Vipers battled back to make things interesting.

Vernon’s bench was short a few players due to injuries and suspensions. Boyarski (2), Jacob Green and Jacob Brewer handled the offence in front of Spraggs. Mason Robinson chipped in with a couple of assists in the chippy affair.

The Nixon Wenger Vipers rallied to clip Kelowna 5-4 in Pee Wee Tier 3 play Saturday.

The outcome looked grim at the miway mark as Cash Anderson’s goal was all the Vipers could muster in a 4-1 deficit.

Nixon Wenger rang up four unanswered goals, the last coming from Damien Glover with 72 seconds remaining.

Cody Beckner started the rally in the second period, followed by snipes from Bennett Kuhnlein and Maddux Minard.