Sports
November 27, 2008 11:21 PM
LAST WEEK:
Friday - won 4-2 vs. Milton Icehawks; Sunday - won 5-1 vs. Streetsville Derbys; Monday - won 4-3 in shootout vs. Couchiching Terriers. Vipers now 14 wins, one shotoout win; one overtime win; nine losses and one shootout loss, 33 points. Fourth place in MacKinnon Division.
COMING UP:
Friday at Trenton Hercs, 7:30 p.m.; Monday vs. Streetsville Derbys at Al Palladini Community Centre, 7:15 p.m.
GAME NOTES:
The Vipers recorded their fourth straight victory Monday with a 4-3 shootout decision over the visiting Couchiching Terriers.
Doug Clarkson scored the lone goal in the dramatic session while Vipers’ netminder Troy Passingham foiled all three Terriers’ attempts including the final one on Bryan Black to ice the game and give Vaughan their first shootout win of the season.
The Vipers jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes on goals by Mark Schiraldo and Clarkson on a power play.
After the Terriers cut into the Vipers’ lead with a goal in the second period, Rob DeFulvis restored Vaughan’s two-goal margin with a goal to start the third period.
But the Terriers battled back with two goals, including one by Matt Smyth on a penalty shot with just six seconds left in regulation time to force overtime.
The referees ruled someone on the Vipers deliberately lifted the net off its moorings during a goalmouth scramble that resulted in the penalty shot.
The Terriers outshot the Vipers 42-28. The victory by the Vipers came on the heels of a 5-1 road win over the Streetsville Derbys Sunday.
Schiraldi jump-started the Vipers’ offence by scoring a pair of goals, including one on a power play, to stake Vaughan to a 2-0 lead before the Derbys countered with one before the first period concluded.
But the Vipers stormed out of the gates in the second period and erupted with three unanswered goals from Doug Clarkson, Ryan Clarkson and Dorian Peca on a power play to take a 5-1 lead through 40 minutes.
Wes Carr handled 14 of 15 shots to help preserve the win. The Vipers directed 29 shots on the Derbys’ net.
Last Friday, the Vipers travelled to Milton and skated off with a 4-2 win over the Icehawks. Lukas Krznaric scored the lone goal of the opening period to give the Vipers a 1-0 advantage. After Peca scored the first goal of the second period to pad the Vipers lead to 2-0, the Icehawks countered with their lone marker of the game.
But unanswered goals by Schiraldi and Peca enabled the Vipers to gain some breathing room entering the final period.
The Icehawks accounted for the lone goal of the third period. Passingham stopped 31 of 33 shots while the Vipers took 37 on the Milton goal.
INSIDER:
The Vipers added a familiar face to their roster when forward Victor Terreri rejoined the club for Sunday’s game against the Derbys.
Playing last season with the Vipers, the 17-year-old Terreri began this year with the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League and was then dealt to the Oshawa Generals, who then sent him to the Vipers.
Because the Vipers still owned his tier two junior A playing rights, no cash was involved in the transaction.
Terrari made his presence felt in Sunday’s game as he received an instigator penalty and sat out Monday’s contest against the Terriers. The OJHL announced its Future Stars games will be held Jan. 14.
The Orangeville Crushers will host this year’s games at the Alder Street Recreation Centre.
The two games will feature undrafted 16- and 17-year-old players from the OJHL.
The first game will feature the Phillips Division against the Ruddock Division at 5:30 p.m. The second game will involve the MacKinnon Division versus Central Division at 7:30 p.m.
GENERALLY
SPEAKING:
“The boys are working hard and we’ve been getting timely goaltending,” Vipers head coach Jason Fortier said. “It’s one of those stretches you go through and you ride it and hope you learn from it every game.
“Hopefully with this run (win streak) we can separate ourselves from the middle of the pack.”
For more on the Vipers, go to
www.vaughanvipers.com.