The Vernon Home Building Centre Vipers shaded the Strathcona Warriors of Edmonton 3-2 (shootout) in Sunday’s consolation final of the Banff Hockey Academy Midget Tier 1 Hockey Challenge Cup.
The Vipers, who finished 3-1, got regulation goals from Stephane Richard and Carl Main before Connor Johnston netted the shootout winner. Josh Evans stopped all three Strathcona shooters.
Reed Cashato, Jason Shaigec, Cameron Hitch and Bryce Pyle provided assists.
Logan Imrich converted a Grady Caton feed in overtime as Vernon, coached by Brad Shaigec and Murray Caton, clipped the Moose Jaw Warriors 3-2 in preliminary action Saturday.
Main, with assists to Richard and Shaigec, had the opening snipe, while Johnston, unassisted, gave Vernon a 2-0 lead. Tristan Quiring recorded the win.
The Coca-Cola Tier 2 Midgets swamped Summerland Jets 8-2 and upended the Salmon Arm Silvertips 5-2 in exhibition play.
Conor Webb, who was an emergency call-up for the BCHL Vipers Friday night, was in goal against Summerland.
Landon Munk pulled the hat trick, while Bryton Stead (2), Riley Swiscoski (1+2), Jarrett Campbell and Jayden Pedersen handled the offence with Kyle Sherwood posting three helpers and Easton Jones getting a pair.
Billy Cawthorn and Webb shared net duties versus the Tips.
Riley Swiscoski, Brian Ferguson, Austin Derkach, Jeremy Pogue and Campbell counted the goals with Harvey Pawsey pocketing two assists.
The North Island Impact stopped the Abbotsford Heat 3-1 Sunday in the final of the Salmon Arm Midget A Female Tournament in Sicamous.
The Salmon Arm Silvertips, who are sponsored by Armstrong Co-O,p finished the tournament 0-4.
After falling 2-0 to South Island in their Friday opener, the Tips lost 2-0 to Terrace and fell 2-1 to the Kelowna Rockets in Saturday play.
The Tips outplayed and outshot the Rockets all the way but couldn’t find any puck luck. Cailee Bauml scored the Tips’ goal when she poked checked a defenceman on the blue line and then simply out sprinted the other d-man to get in the clear. She went high, blocker side
Salmon Arm lost their consolation final 4-0 to Williams Lake. The Tips’ game MVPs were Brooke Miller, Bauml, Catlyn Marshall and Makenna Southam.
The Source for Sports Bantam Tier 1 Vipers tied 2-2 with Kamloops Tier 2 Blazers and lost 3-1 to the Tier 1 Blazers in a pair of road games.
The Vipers were down 1-0 late in the second Saturday when Kael Black connected on a feed from Dawson Chase.
Vernon trailed 2-1 midway through the third, but kept battling back. With Just 24 seconds left to play and the net empty in favor of the extra attacker, Chase equalized from the slot with Joe Eggert and Mika Burns earning the assists.
The Tier 1 Blazers grabbed a 2-0 lead early in the second before Caden Bracken jumped off the bench and joined the play. Damian Coljee-Fehr fed a nice pass from the corner and Bracken took it high in the slot firing a wrister high blocker side.
The Vipers pressed for the equalizer, but were hampered killing 10 minutes of penalties in the last half.
Vernon opens their eight-team Tier 2 tourney Friday night (6:15) against Nanaimo Clippers at Civic Arena.
The Fix Auto Bantam Tier 3 Vipers went 2-2, falling 8-4 to the Summerland Jets Sunday morning at the Revelstoke Grizzlies Invitational.
Nick Mitchell, with 1+2, game MVP Bryan Brew, Cole Johnson and Lucas Halvorson supplied the Vernon offence.
Mitchell pulled the hat trick as the Vipers ambushed the Clearwater Raiders 10-1 Saturday afternoon at the Forum.
Game MVP Dayton Bryan and Gavin Fleck each netted deuces, while d-man Zayne Hanke earned 1+2 and other singles came from Lincoln Connor and Johnson. D-man Ethan Joe had two helpers.
The host Watkins Motors Mustangs thumped the Prince George Cougars 8-0 in Pee Wee Tier 1 league play Saturday morning. Kobe Grant earned the shutout, while former Cougar Corbin Hanson fired a hat trick, not showing his former teammates any love.
Power forward Nick Teale netted a single with the other goals going to Tysen Fairweather, towering d-man Scott Gilowski, smooth-handed Steel Quiring and speedy forward Lochlan O’Keefe. Shifty defenseman Cameron Moger chipped in with a couple of assists with speedy Trevor Kennedy and Zack Funk each getting a helper.
K.T. Walters and Connor Elliott were solid on defence as the Mustangs earned their first league victory over Prince George.
The Nixon Wenger Tier 2 Pee Wee Vipers gained a tie against three losses at the Kamloops Blazers Invitational.
Connor Hansen connected in Vernon’s 8-1 loss to Kamloops Saturday morning with goalie Owen Swiscoski taking MVP.
The Vipers lost 9-2 to the Richmond Islanders Saturday afternoon with Ronac Chauhan scoring unassisted and Jacob Wettlaufer clicking from Jacob Green. Hansen was MVP.
Vernon opened by falling 14-1 to the powerful Fort St. John Hawks with Jakob Jones scoring from Green. Swiscoski stopped an astounding 69 shots, while Emma Elders was MVP.
The Nixon Wenger crew then tied the Oceanside Generals of Parksville 5-5 with goalie Aidan Spraggs collecting MVP. Maisun Ang-Hamilton and Jones each registered a deuce, while Benjamin Reinhardt had a single. Green rang up two helpers.
The Valley Wood Remanufacturing Vipers grounded the Cloverdale Colts 5-2 Sunday morning in the D final of the 10-team Salmon Arm Atom Development Tier 1 Tournament.
Cash Anderson (2), Erik Pastro, Bennett Kuhnlein and Max Stewart handled the offence with Brock Holliday, John Spraggs, Scotty Hoffman and Liam Leibel picking up assists in support of Colten Colmorgen.
The Vipers went 1-2 in the round-robin, starting with a 4-1 loss to the West Kelowna Warriors. Braden Schimegelt, assisted by Austin Roest, accounted for Vernon’s goal.
Jace Weir bagged a pair of snipes as the Valley Wood group toppled the Coquitlam Chiefs 6-2. Pastro, Anderson, Bennett Kuhnlein and Nick Noren provided the other goals with Hoffman picking up two helpers in support of Austin Seibel.
Vernon then grabbed an early lead with a strong forecheck before bowing 5-2 to the Prince George Cougars.
Pastro (2+1) and Leibel counted goals with Colmorgen taking the loss. After finishing in Salmon Arm, the Vipers returned home and fell 7-4 to the Kelowna Jr. Chiefs in league action Sunday afternoon.
With the tanks almost on fumes, the Vipers put in a herculean effort but eventually ran out of gas in the third period with Noren, Pastro, Weir and Schimegelt scoring. Seibel was solid in suffering the loss, stopping multiple breakaways on the night.
