The Vernon Fix Auto Vipers were 2-1 going into Saturday afternoon play in their home Bantam Tier 3 Hockey Tournament.
New Saskatchewan product Brennan Schwark scored twice as the Vipers stopped the West Kelowna Warriors 5-1 Saturday morning at Kal Tire Place.
Aidan Rysen, Cody Webb and Damian Coljee-Fehr provided singles in front of Jayden Jensen.
The Vipers lost 6-2 to the Penticton Vees late Friday night at Civic Arena, just a few hours after ambushing the Salmon Arm Silvertips 9-2.
Mason McLennan and Caden Bracken scored against Penticton. Ethan Huizinga went the distance in net.
Coljee-Fehr (2), Joe Eggert, McLennan, Lucas Halvorson, Dex Elders, Schwark, Nick Cherkowski and Mika Burns handled the Vernon offence over Salmon Arm. Jensen stopped 28 shots.
The Kelowna Rockets clipped the Salmon Arm Silvertips 5-4 in Saturday morning play at Civic.
In other Friday games, the Merritt Centennials doubled Kelowna 6-3 and the Quesnel Kangaroos iced West Kelowna 7-4.
The A final of the seven-team tournament (Prince George dropped out Thursday) goes today (noon) at Civic.
The Vernon Home Building Centre Tier 1 Midget Vipers had their Friday night game aand Saturday matinee gainst the Prince George Cougars cancelled due to inclement weather up north.
Meanwhile, the Vernon DCT Chambers Marauders shelled the Kelowna Stars 7-2 Saturday morning at Memorial Arena to open the 14-team Kelowna Christmas Classic Bantam Rec Invitational.
Game MVP Landon Currie supplied four snipes as the Marauders scored seven unanswered goals after the Stars scored in the first two minutes..
Cole Martin, Sam Frisby and Tavyn Best had the other goals in support of a solid Sam Knox. The defensive corps of Mac Gilchrist, Gaman Nijjar, Adam Raber, Jim Brodoway and Cam Mackenzie was outstanding all game.
The Marauders rallied from a pair of three-goal first-period deficits to shade the Kelowna Canucks 5-4 in their opener Friday night at Rutland Arena.
Currie’s second goal of the game at 8:43 of the third period, a wrist shot from the slot through the goalie’s legs, completed the Vernon comeback.
The Canucks held first period leads of 3-0 and 4-1 before the Marauders started chipping away at the lead.
Vernon was down 4-2 after one and 4-3 heading into the final period. Martin also had two goals and Sam Frisby one.
Noah Foufoulas went the distance and was stellar over the final two periods, preserving the win with a handful of sparkling saves in the final minutes, including three on a Kelowna power play – the only penalty called in the contest. Forward Aaron Botterill was DCT’s game MVP.
George Agar’s Marauders faced the Kelowna Bruins Saturday afternoon and battle the Langley Warriors this morning.
