Salmon Arm, BC: Dawson Holt had a shorthanded marker to kick off a run of 4 straight Viper goals on their way to a 5-3 road win against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
In the first period, it wasn’t hard to see which team had played the night before as the Vipers came out a little sluggish. They seemed a half step behind in the offensive zone and just not sharp. The Backs had the better of the chances and the shots. The Viper penalty kill continued its strong play from the night before killing off the first Salmon Arm advantage. The Vipers would then get a powerplay that didn’t look sharp and was killed off. The Backs opened the scoring late as a bouncing puck found Drew Bennett at the side of the Viper goal making it 1-0. The shots finished 10-5 in favour of the Backs after 1.
The Vipers found their legs in the second period and nearly tied it up early on as Hunter Donohoe was robbed by Grant Adams. The Backs increased their lead as Drew Bennett jumped on a loose puck in front of the Vipers goal for his 2nd of the night to make it 2-0. The Vipers then found themselves shorthanded, but Dawson Holt was the great equalizer as he powered in down the left wing and beat Adams with backhand to make it 2-1. He almost tied the game shortly after that while still shorthanded, but was robbed by Adams on the breakaway. The Vipers evened the game up as Max Bulawka knocked his own rebound with 5 minutes left in the period. Late in the frame the Vipers were awarded a powerplay and JoJo Tanaka-Campbell snapped home his 2nd in as many games to give the Vipers a 3-2 lead after 2.
In the third, the Vipers were able to increase their lead to 2 as a Matt Kowalski point shot was tipped on its way to through by Ben Helgeson, moments after a powerplay expired to make it 4-2. That goal proved crucial as the Silverbacks stormed right back and got it back within 1 as Daniel Rybarik tipped in a point shot from Akito Hirose. The Vipers restored the 2 goal lead as Ben Sanderson set up Christian Felton who snapped home the 5th goal of the game making it 5-3. From the Vipers tightened up defensively and steered the game to the final buzzer.
The Vipers will be in action Wednesday night when the Penticton Vees come to town at 7pm
Photo Credit – Pure Life Photography
