Vernon, BC: The Vernon Vipers look for their fourth win in a row and two very important points Sunday as they take on the West Kelowna Warriors for the final time this season.
The Vipers (26-19-4-3) come in after a 4-1 win over the Merritt Centennials. They had four different goal scorers (Tonelli, MacDonald, Buss, Culling) and did it in different ways with 2 even strength goals, a powerplay marker and a shorthanded tally. Ethan David stopped 25 of 26 in the victory. It was a big win for the Vipers who for the time being remain right behind Cranbrook for the battle for 5th place. The Vipers are 7-3 in their last 10 games. This is a game in hand that the Snakes have on Cranbrook who lost last night to Penticton. A couple of Vipers have some streaks going: Cam MacDonald with points in 4 straight (3 goals and 3 assists) and Luke Buss points in 3 straight (2 goals, 1 assist).
The Warriors (34-16-1-0) are the hottest team in the BCHL right now. They’re most recently coming off a 7-1 win over the Merritt Centennials on Friday night. They’ve won 7 straight games and are 9-1 in their last 10 games. They’ll be without their leading scorer Felix Trudeau who was suspended for 5-games which extends into the first two games of the playoffs. The Warriors depth is extremely impressive, they have 6 players with 40 or more points. West Kelowna has secured 3rd spot in the Interior Conference and will face the 6th seed (yet to be determined). They’ve scored the second most goals in the league with 214.
You can catch all the action starting at 2:15 on BCHL.TV and 107.5 Beach Radio.
