Morning Star Staff
The H&L Glass Vipers iced the Revelstoke Grizzlies 1-0 in a shootout Sunday to win the Salmon Arm Atom C Hockey Tournament at the Shaw Centre.
Zack Casagrande went top shelf, bar down, for the winner. Both teams enjoyed numerous chances in overtime with Vernon goalie Matthew Kuhnlein sensational.
Defencemen Ty Whitney, Trey Schober, Luke Walsh, and Colter Louis did their part to preserve the shutout and take the game to OT.
“What a great weekend for players and coaches,” said H&L Glass head coach Dallas Walsh. “The boys brought their best efforts and attitudes to the tournament and were rewarded by taking home gold. The coaching staff is very proud to be part of such a great group of kids.”
The Vipers outscored the opposition 24-6 in the round-robin before rallying for a 4-3 shootout win over Vancouver in the semifinals. Austen Vandenbrand netted the winner with Kuhnlein stopping all four Vancouver shooters.
Hudson Kibblewhite, Maguire Nicholson and Riley Beer, with the 3-3 equalizer on a dynamic rush, supplied regulation snipes.
Vernon opened by grounding Summerland 9-2 behind two-goal showings from Nicholson, Marcel Green and Beer. Kibblewhite added 1+2, while Charlie Swartz and Ryan Cox also scored.
Nicholson and Kibblewhite rang up deucesas the Vipers ambushed South Okanagan 7-2. Singles came from Casagrande, Jeffrey Curtis and Vandenbrand.
Vernon finished the round-robin by zapping Williams Lake 8-2 with coach Walsh facing several players he coached last season.
A dozen Vipers hit the scoresheet with Casagrande getting 2+1, Swartz adding 1+2 and Lyndon Carleton, Curtis and Nicholson earning 1+1. Kuhnlein had two assists while taking the win.
The Watkin Motors Mustangs shelled the host Penticton Vees 7-1 Sunday in the gold-medal final of a Tier 2 Pee Wee tournament.
Cayden Hamming went the distance in net, while Zach Funk (2), Jacob Boden (1+3), Jakob Jones, Jarred Feist, Jace Weir and Porter Trevelyan handled the offence. Dynamite defensive showings were turned in by from Owen Palfreyman and Liam Remple.
The Mustangs mauled the Kelowna Rockets 5-3 in the semifinals with Teja Sheldrake making a brilliant save on a penalty shot in claiming the win.
Austin Roest, Feist, Emma Elders, Connor Elliott and Steel Quiring counted goals. Trevelyan took game MVP.
Vernon stuffed Langley 6-3 in their tourney opener with Roest collecting 2+1 and singles going Weir, Jones, Quiring and Boden. Feist was MVP.
Quiring, Funk, Elders and Feist each produced two goals as Vernon rocked North Shore Winter Club 9-1.
Nick Noren added a single with MVP going to Elders.
The Watkin Motors gang ended preliminary play by dispatching Ridge Meadows 7-1 behind two beauty snipes by Isaac Thomas. Singles went to Trevelyan, Roest, Quiring, Funk and Elders. Noren earned MVP.
Former Vernon Laker d-man Wes Elliott is head coach of the Mustangs with assistants Jason Boden, Scott Palfreyman and Mike Weir.
Next tournament action for the Mustangs is the Vernon Coca-Cola Classic in February.
The Vernon Home Hardware Centre Vipers lost 3-1 to the Penticton Vees in a Midget Tier 2 battle of undefeated teams Sunday afternoon.
Penticton came our fast and took a 1-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes. The Vipers came out strong in the second and pressed hard with no luck for the equalizer.
The Vees capitalized on their only opportunity and banged home their second goal with six seconds left in the period.
The teams exchanged third-period goals in a penalty-filled affair which really slowed the pace. Vernon’s Brady Marzocco buried his chance from the slot on a nice feed from Stephane Richard and Jason Shaigec.
The Thompson-Okanagan Lakers swept the Kootenay Wild three times in B.C Midget Female AAA Hockey League action in Nelson.
Kayla Waldbillig, Kendall Fitzgerald and Riley Henderson supplied goals in Friday’s 3-2 win with Mairyn Tucker of Armstrong earning one assist. Sydney Carter was in net.
Kendra Woodland posted the 2-0 shutout Saturday with Henderson and Christy Blackburne pocketing goals and Tucker getting one helper.
Jenna Fletcher of Vernon scored once in a 3-0 victory Sunday with Carter in goal. Anne Cherkowski of Vernon set up Fletcher.
Elizabeth Klimm and Henderson, with an empty netter, provided the other snipes.
The Lakers are tied for second place at 10-3-2, while the last-place Wild dipped to 1-13-1. The Lakers entertain the league-leading Greater Vancouver Comets (12-2-1) for three games starting Friday, 8 p.m. at Kal Tire Place.
The teams also play Saturday, 10:30 a.m. and Sunday, 1 p.m., all at Kal Tire Place.
The Vernon Fix Auto Vipers lost 7-4 to the Winfield Bruins in Bantam Tier 3 action Sunday afternoon at Civic.
Vernon jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals from Ben Reinhardt with linemates Gavin Fleck and Cole Boyarski assisting both.
Winfield stormed back with four unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead just before the ice clean.
Aidan Spraggs made a fantastic diving save to keep the game close and then the Vipers rallied with goals from Zack Laranjo and Lucas Zubrod to level things at 4-4 at the break.
Vernon spent most of the third period shorthanded and Winfield made them pay scoring three times on the powerplay.
Jordan Foster and Spraggs split the goaltending duties.
