Bulldogs won their first game of their 2 game road trip on their final trip out to BC for the season. The Bulldogs defeated the Vernon Vipers 6-4 on Friday night.
Vipers have 5 players making their debut tonight against the Bulldogs. Vipers have had the player movement the Bulldogs seemed to of faced at the start of the season. The Vipers have a good looking team on paper.
Vipers opened up the scoring when Swedish Import Edvin Nilsson shot from the slot and got his third of the season at 11:02 of the first period from former Lethbridge Hurricane Tyson Zimmer.
Austin Borggaard tied the game up at 19:17 of the first period with the assist on the goal going to Noah Mertz. That is Borggaard’s 7th goal of the season. Mertz centered the puck and it went off of Borggaard’s stick right between the pads five hole.
Shots on goal in the first period were 11-4 for the Bulldogs.
Recently acquired Dean Toskos gets his first goal as a Bulldogs on his own rebound at 2:14 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Alex Bosland and Oscar Bjork. Toskos who when announced during the game sounds like “Costco’s” is from Oakland, New Jersey and was acquired from the Surrey Eagles.
On the pp the Vipers get it right back with a real nice goal when 20 year old former Victoria Grizzlie Ryan Watt scored from Tyson Zimmer and University of New Hampshire commit Price Grimes. It says on Elite prospects Grimes hails from Greenville, South Carolina. That is kind of neat. Not exactly a hockey hotbed. Although they do have minor pro team there.
Nicholas DiPaolo makes it a 3-2 game when he scored his first goal as a Bulldog at 7:23 of the second period with the assist going to Luke Norcross. DiPaolo also had a chance earlier in the game to score on a breakaway. DiPaolo is committed to Niagara for next season, the school where former Bulldog Tyler Wallace is playing on.
On a 5 on 3 PP the Vipers tied the game at 3 when former Vancouver Giant 20 year old Kyren Gronik got his 4th goal of the season at 9:43 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Ryan Watt and Denver, Colorado native Charlie Kresl.
Thomas Neu makes it 4-3 for the Bulldogs when he picked the corner cutting out from the hashmarks at 15:37 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Luke Norcross and Oscar Bjork.
Luke Dahlen puts the Bulldogs up by two with a quick move to score with little time left in the second period at 19:47. The assists on the goal went to Gates Omicioli and Joey Melo.
Shots on goal in the second period were 11-8 for the Bulldogs
What the Vipers do at the intermission is sort of neat with the garbage bin and the frisbees. They pull a bin out in the middle of the ice with a hole in the middle of it. The sound was off so I don’t know if anyone won anything as no frisbee landed in the hole in the bin.
The Vipers started former Kelowna Rockets netminder Jari Kykkanen for the third period.
Joey Melo scored his 11th goal of the season with a pass from Danny Hussa to make it a 6-3 game at 15:54 of the third period after a turnover when the Vipers tried to clear the zone.
Charlie Kresl scores for the Vipers with 1:11 remaining for the Vipers while on the Power Play to make the game 6-4. The assists on the goal went to Grand Forks, North Dakota native Luc Bydal and Vernon native Erik Pastro.
Shots on goal in the third period were 9-7 for the Vipers. The Bulldogs outshot the Vipers 29-21 in the game.
Kirill Kapustin made 17 saves on the 21 shots that he faced for the win. For the Vipers former Edmonton Oil King goalie Logan Cunningham made 17 saves on the 22 shots the he faced. In the third period Cunningham was replaced by former Kelowna Rockets goalie Jari Kykkanen who stopped 6 of the 7 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Joey Melo 2) Ryan Watt 3) Oscar Bjork
Attendance in Vernon at Kal Tire Place was 2144
Bulldogs next game is Saturday February 15th in West Kelowna against the Warriors
Easton Adrian played 1 game with the Bulldogs after a long injury and then was traded to the Silverbacks. He will play there with former Bulldog legend Dakota MacIntosh. Too bad we don’t get to see the Salmon Arm Silverbacks again this year.
