The Collard Financial Solutions Vernon Pee Wee Tier 3 Vipers enjoyed a great home opener weekend in Okanagan Mainline Hockey Association league play with two wins at Kal Tire Place North.
Kohen Molde made 47 saves and Oliver Murray supplied two goals as the Vipers brushed back the Revelstoke Grizzlies 6-5 Saturday.
Kohen Pounder opened up the scoring for the Vipers, who also got snipes from Logan Andrew, Dylan Salling and Lyndon Carleton. Vernon’s top playmaker was Sam Levesque with three assists, while Carleton had a pair and Pounder and Hailey Sitter counted singles.
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In the Sunday matinee at Kal Tire Place North, the Vipers upended the Salmon Arm Silverbacks 7-4.
Captain Mark Johnson jumpstarted the Collard Financial offence with two goals with Murray following with the hat trick. Carleton and Salling each pocketed 1+2 Tage Nanji and Jace Collard had single helpers in support of Brayden Rypkema (31 saves).
In Pee Wee Tier 2 play, the Vernon Watkin Motors Mustangs sorely missed injured sniper Hudson Kibblewhite as they lost 7-3 and 2-1 to the Trail Smoke Eaters at Cominco Arena.
Jeff Curtis, Morgan Hackman and Maguire Nicholson handled the offence in Saturday night’s loss, while Nicholson, assisted by Alessandro Durfeld, answered for Vernon in the Sunday tilt. Brent Magnus is the head coach of the Vipers.
Meanwhile, the short-staffed Collard Financial Vipers bowed 9-0 to the Kamloops Blazers in Midget Tier 2 play Sunday at McArthur Island Sport & Event Centre-Olympic ice.
The Vipers, coached by Jared Barendregt, only had seven forwards and five defencemen.
The North Okanagan Pee Wee Super League began play with the Fairfield Inn & Suites Broncos bouncing the Winfield Bruins 10-1 Sunday at Kal Tire Place North and tying the Salmon Arm Askew’s Foods 4-4 Saturday at the Shaw Centre Hucul Pond in Salmon Arm.
“The team came up with the name Broncos to honour the Humboldt team,” said Vernon manager Achim Colmorgen. “I thought that was pretty cool. The kids actually requested the green jerseys (yellow & black trim) from GVMHA.”
“Considering it is early in the season, I am very happy with the way the team played,” said Bronco head coach Matt Rysen. “We got strong performances by Kacey Miller in net (44 saves on the weekend). Offensively, Tylen Hutton, Ashton Rysen, Rowan Kwast, and Skylar Donnelly led the way, while strong defensive play was turned in by Charlie McGinty, Adam Levesque, Clayten Colmorgen and Joshua Van Calsteren.”
The Vernon Sun Valley Source For Sports Vipers split a pair of Bantam Tier 2 game, starting with a 6-2 Friday night win over the Kelowna Rockets at Priest Valley Arena.
Bennett Kuhnlein fed a pass to Colton Fleming, who fired a shot from the blue line and Nick Noren got a stick on it resulting in the first goal. Minutes later, it was Kuhnlein scoring when he went in all alone on a nifty feed from Riley Cormier.
The Rockets responded before Eric Pastro potted his first of two on a heads-up pass from Ryder DeNys. The Rockets pulled within one again early in the second before Pastro stole the puck at the blue line and burst in all alone beating the goaltender with a quick move on the backhand.
Matthew Kuhnlein stood strong in net before Vernon added goals by Max Stewart off a rebound of a Braden Schmieglet point shot, and Cash Anderson, on a sweet blast from the slot. Kuhnlein and Noren added helpers.
Vernon fell 4-3 to Kamloops Sunday morning at Kal Tire Place North. Goals came from Kuhnlein, DeNys and Fleming.
In Senior Atom Rep play, Kelowna stopped the visiting Vernon H&L Glass Jr. Vipers 6-5 Sunday.
Ollie Reid collected 2+1 for the Jr. Vipers, while French import Axel Houle added a single.
“It was a good game for our group,” said Vernon head coach Ryan Reid. “Kelowna is going to be the benchmark in the league. We’ll be there at the end of the season.”
The H&L Glass crew hold their home tournament this weekend, starting Friday, 5:15 p.m. against Chilliwack. In Saturday action, Vernon faces North Shore Winter Club at 11:30 a.m. and battle Williams Lake at 4:45 p.m. All three games are at Kal Tire Place North.
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