Morning Star Staff
On cookie night, the Chilliwack Chiefs dunked the Vernon Vipers.
The Chiefs scored seven unanswered goals from seven different players on Score Six Saturday in coasting to a 7-2 B.C. Hockey League win over the Vipers at Prospera Centre.
The 2,234 fans were able to collect a voucher for two free Subway cookies on their way out of the building because the Chiefs scored six goals.
The two teams meet in a rematch tonight at 7 at Kal Tire Place.
The Chiefs have won four in a row while Vernon has lost two straight and three of its last four.
“I don’t have any explanation for it,” said Vernon head coach Mark Ferner of Saturday’s debacle. “We had a good start, up 1-0 after five minutes. Then we couldn’t pass, couldn’t check, the goalies would bobble the saves. From top to bottom, we weren’t very good.”
Niko Karamanis opened the scoring 1:54 after the national anthem. The Chiefs then scored the next seven. Three in the first period (one from forward Jordan Kawaguchi, who just committed to the defending NCAA champion University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks), two more in the second and two in the final frame before Levi Johnson scored the second Vernon marker late in the game on a powerplay.
Mark Sinclair made 25 saves for the Chiefs to get the win while starter Ty Taylor and Cole Demers combined for 38 saves for the Vipers. Taylor was chased after the 5-1 goal, and Demers was called upon right away to stop a penalty shot.
The Vipers made a number of roster moves ahead of Saturday’s game, including adding a forward who woke up that morning a member of the Chiefs but played against them that evening.
Vernon traded defenceman Mitch Oliver, 19, to the Chiefs in exchange for forward Jesse Lansdell, 18.
Oliver leaves the Snakes after appearing in 117 regular season games over three seasons. The Kelowna product had five points in 12 games this year.
Lansdell, a five-foot-11, 206-pound centre, had 44 points in 55 games last season. He has five points in the first nine games this year.
Lansdell is committed to Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Indiana for next season. The Surrey native amassed 55 points and 106 penalty minutes in 25 games with Yale Hockey Academy Prep in his final Midget season.
“It was a trade that came together very quickly,” said Ferner. “We had eight d-men, they added a body and we were looking to add a top-six forward. We traded a good player and a good kid for a good young forward.”
The Chiefs then dealt Oliver to the Alberta League’s Bonnyville Pontiacs.
Vernon also added 20-year-old defenceman Connor Clouston from the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers.
Clouston, who hails from Medicine Hat, is a veteran of 158 WHL games and, at 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, brings size to the blue line. His father, Shaun, is the Tigers head coach/GM.
The nephew of former NHL coach Cory Clouston, Connor has compiled close to 250 penalty minutes.
“He’s a big, physical guy (third round WHL bantam draft pick of Kamloops Blazers) with good experience who kind of fell through the cracks,” said Ferner of Clouston. “He’s a big player, hard to play against.”
Both Lansdell and Clouston were held off the scoresheet in Chilliwack.
In order to make room for Clouston, the Vipers released forward Tyler Maser. 17. The Houston, B.C. product had one goal and two points in 10 games.
Ferner hopes for a better effort against the Chiefs in tonight’s rematch.
“We just chalked it up to one of those nights we weren’t very good,” he said of Saturday’s defeat. “We’ve told the guys ‘let’s be better.’ We’ve tweaked some things, slightly, now let’s go out and apply it.”
SNAKE BITES: Rookie D Powell Connor, a Vernon product, had one assist for the Chiefs. He has four helpers…Ex-Viper Linden Hora is an alternate captain with Chilliwack…The top-ranked team in the CJAHL is the Steinbach Pistons of Manitoba, followed by Les Cobras de Terrebonne of Quebec and Yarmouth Mariners of Nova Scotia. The Wenatchee Wild are No. 4. Penticton is sixth. The Wild clipped the Surrey Eagles 6-5 in OT Sunday, improving to 10-0-1. Vernon’s Spencer Hewson had 1+1 as the Nanaimo Clippers iced Penticton 3-0 Saturday.
