The Kamloops Venom completed a Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League home-and-home series sweep with their arch-rival Vernon Tigers Wednesday, scoring a second straight 10-8 win at Kal Tire Place.
The last three meetings between the two squads have all ended 10-8 with Kamloops taking two of three, and the Venom have won three of the first four meetings between last year’s league finalists.
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The reigning champion Tigers (1-4) jumped out to a 3-1 lead midway through the first period Wednesday on goals from Drayden Harshenin, Kaden Doughty and Liam Cyr.
The Venom (5-1) would reply with three unanswered goals before the end of the period, and scored a powerplay marker 30 seconds into the middle frame to take a 5-3 lead.
The Tigers got back to within a goal on the man advantage with Caden Colmorgen scoring, but Kamloops then rattled off five straight goals to take a 10-4 lead. Jake Pelletier scored a powerplay goal at 19:20 to make it 10-5 Venom after 40 minutes.
Doughty, Colmorgen and newly signed Stephane Richard scored for Vernon in the third to make the score close.
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Armstrong’s Mykl Drabiuk scored twice for the Venom, as did Trey Dergousoff, who added three assists. Mason Suppanz also had two goals while Callum Gorman pocketed five assists.
Reed Watson was stellar in the Venom goal, making 38 saves, while Quintin Fisk stopped 43 in goal for Vernon.
Next action for both teams are home games against the South Okanagan Flames (1-2). The Tigers host the Flames Saturday, 7:30 p.m., at Kal Tire Place while South Okanagan will visit the Venom at the Kamloops Memorial Arena Thursday, May 23, 7:30 p.m.
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