There was a different feeling in the air Friday night at Kal Tire Place. The place was packed, there were new banners hung on the walls and the rafters donned a pair of superhero-sized team Canada Jerseys. It must be Fred Page Cup time.
Despite the arena makeover, the Vernon Vipers melted away a 3-0 lead and lost 6-4 to the Coquitlam Express in Game 1 of the B.C. Hockey League best-of-seven final series.
“The game was a mix of highs and lows for us. We started out strong but kind of fell asleep,” said Brendan Persley.
The Vipers started the game as if they were shot out of a cannon.
D-man Josh Bryan chipped the puck off the glass out of his zone sending Persley in all alone. He faked backhand, brought it back to the front and slid it past Express goaltender Gordie Defiel.
Persley’s eighth of the playoffs came 40 seconds in, sending the 2,000 patrons into euphoria. Jared Wilson earned the secondary assist.
Brett Mulcahy continues to be hotter than Kal beach in July this postseason. From the corner, Colton Sparrow found a wide open Mulcahy standing in the slot. Mulcahy didn’t hesitate to rip it top shelf. Persley picked up the other assist on Mulcahy’s 14th of the playoffs, 3:05 into the first.
With an expiring Express powerplay, Dexter Dancs grabbed a loose puck at his own blueline, spun off a defender and was off to the races with Demico Hannoun escorting him on a 2-on-1 rush. Hannoun scored his third of the playoffs from Dancs and Michael McNicholas, giving the Vipers a 3-0 lead at recess.
A frantic first period put to rest any thoughts of rust.
The Vipers hadn’t played in 12 nights and the Express had a week off since their triple-overtime thriller against Victoria.
“The first period was good, but the rest wasn’t,” said Vipers’ head coach Jason Williamson. “We started to cheat and against a team like that, they are going to make you pay.”
The Express turned the tables on the Vipers in the second. The Express responded with three unanswered goals of their own.
Bo Pieper, the Minnesota product, was on a mission Friday night. He got his first of four goals on the from Daniell Lange and Zach Hodder 2:58 into the second. Hodder is a former Vancouver Giants’ blueliner.
“We had a big adjustment from playing in front of this crowd two weeks ago. Some of our guys were a bit intimidated last time but they battled through it tonight,” said Express head coach Barry Wolff.
Viper captain Ryan Renz was doing time for slashing when Pieper struck again.
A clearing attempt bounced off of T.J. Dumonceaux’s neck, back into the Snakes zone keeping the play alive. Jace Hennig and Hodder cycled the puck until they found Pieper open at the top off the right faceoff circle.
With just over one minute remaining in the period, Corey Mackin won a foot race against Dylan Chanter on the penalty kill. He shovelled a backhand past Smith, tying it up at three.
“I felt we were the better team for most of the night,” said Persley. “We started to hold our sticks a bit tight as they were making their comeback and we had some turnovers.”
The Vipers never seem to make it easy on themselves in there playoffs. The series against the Vees saw the Vipers squander away a few 3-1 leads.
Dancs had a pair of superb scoring chances seconds before and after the second intermission. He had a puck fail off the heel of his stick with five seconds left. During his first shift of the third he hammered a point-blank, one-timer only to be denied by Defiel.
Mason Blacklock knocked down an aerial pass from Hannoun in the neutral zone as he busted in on Defiel. He was able corral the puck before chipping it glove-side on the Express netminder 3:04 into the third.
Pieper scored the game-tying goal and eventual winner in the third. The equalizer was set up by brother Canon Pieper at 6:40 with the winner assisted by Mark Whiteley and Canon Pieper two minutes later.
Mackin put the game on ice with nine minutes left in the game. Hodder, a North Delta product, registered his third assist of the night on the goal.
The shots were even at 35-35.
“We need to go out there, get pucks in deep and put some pressure on their defence. We need to out work them tomorrow,” said Persley.
The new banners and jerseys hanging in Kal Tire Place are in preparation for the RBC Cup which goes May 10-18.
Game 2 went Saturday night at Kal Tire Place.
Game 5 goes Thursday night in Vernon with a sixth game, if necessary, going Saturday in Coquitlam.
