Photo Credit: Jack Murray
January 4th, 2019
VERNON B.C. – A late surge from the Warriors still wasn’t enough to defeat the Vernon Vipers Friday night.
It was a wild first period for both clubs who traded scoring chances throughout, but only one goal was scored. The Vipers started the game with what looked to be the first goal of the evening but it was waived off immediately by referee Josh Albinati. The reunited line of Mike Hardman, Max Bulawka, and Willie Reim showed poise every time they were on the ice with pressure in the attacking zone but couldn’t beat Vipers goaltender Aiden Porter, and then the Vipers would strike with under 5 minutes to go. Vipers forward Connor Marritt was able to collect the loose puck and fire a cross ice pass to veteran Josh Latta who was able to beat Connor Hopkins to make it 1-0. Shots on goal 14-14 after the first period.
The Warriors would jump out to a great start in the second period with Cavin Tilsley throwing a pass to Bennett Norlin scoring his 17th of the season to tie it up at one. Only 2 minutes later the Vipers would regain the lead with Brendon Kim scoring his 3rd of the season to make it 2-1. Connor Hopkins kept it a one goal game throughout the second period thanks to a series of spectacular saves.
The Vipers came out very strong in the third period scoring a series of goals. First it was Colton Bilodeau putting one past Connor Hopkins off a great feed from Nick Cherkowski to make it 3-1, then only a couple minutes later Brendan Kim would score his second of the game to make it 4-1. It would be Kim’s 4th of the season, all goals scored against the Warriors this season. The Warriors would push back late with a couple goals from Parm Dhaliwal and Chase Dubois, who extended his point streak to 9 games to make it 4-3, but it wasn’t enough. The Vipers would hold on to win 4-3 in regulation.
Shots on goal 42-35 in favor of the Vipers.
3 Stars
- VER D Brendan Kim (2G)
- VER F Josh Latta (1G-1A)
- WKW F Chase Dubois (1G)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game:
VER F Connor Marritt (2A)
The Warriors next game is Saturday versus the Trail Smoke Eaters. Puck drop at 7:00pm from Royal LePage Place in West Kelowna. Catch Saturday’s game and every other home and away game this season on Mixlr and Hockey TV. Just head to the Warriors website and click on the “Listen Live” column to get directed to a radio feed of each game.
