Lightning 7 Vipers 4
The Red Deer Vipers knew going into their final Heritage Junior B Hockey League game of the season at the Arena Monday they’d likely face the Stettler Lightning in the opening round of the playoffs.
The only way that wouldn’t happen was if they won Monday against the Lightning and the Blackfalds Wrangers had a complete meltdown in the final four regular season games.
But the Lightning eliminated any thought the Vipers had of finishing first with a 7-4 come-from-behind victory.
The Vipers, who have enjoyed success against the Lightning for most of the season, appeared to be on their way to an easy victory, leading 3-1 after the first period and 4-1 early in the second.
“But after we went up 4-1 the guys got a little cocky and started taking some penalties which gave them the momentum and they ran with it,” said Vipers head coach Lloyd Shaw.
“Once you give a team that momentum it’s hard to play catchup.”
The Lightning scored three times in two minutes and 30 seconds late in the second period to tie the score. In the third period the Lightning took advantage of several Red Deer defensive miscues, especially at the Stettler blueline, to take control of the game.
“If you’re going to pinch you have to make sure you take either the puck or the man and we did neither,” said Shaw.
“There were a lot of odd-man rushes, which you can’t allow.” The Lightning used their speed and quickness to get to Red Deer goaltender Travis Weber.
Cody Smitten burst down the left side and picked the top corner on Weber at 4:33 to break the 4-4 tie, then Tyler Bissett scored on a two-on-one and Kyler O’Connor connected into an empty net.
The loss was just one of many for the Vipers down the stretch.
“We were something like 3-6-1 over our final 10 games as we ran into a string of key injuries,” said Shaw.
“We have four of our top players out including our top two centers. That puts a lot of pressure on the other guys, who have to step up.”
If the Vipers can get past the Lightning they should start getting some of their players back, said Shaw.
“We should get (Braden) Corbett and (Justin) Moir back and if we go deeper into the playoffs JD (Morrical) may be able to come back from his dislocated shoulder.”
Ryan Traynor, David Foord, Stephen Pietsch and Maverick Blair scored for the Vipers while Reese Anheliger added two goals and Mitch Finkbiner and Myles Rindal one each for Stettler.
Weber finished with 27 saves for Red Deer and Landon Schmidt made 35 saves for Stettler.
l The Vipers were originally scheduled to host Rimbey Rock on Monday, but earlier this month the league suspended the team for the remainder of the season.
League president Gerry Arnusch decided that the Rock’s inability to dress enough players for a Jan. 28 game against Blackfalds — which resulted in a forfeit — the club’s appalling record of 0-26 and coach Darren May’s suspension due to an affiliation problem with a player, was too much to ignore.
“We were trying to keep the team going, but it’s hard to keep interest when you’re losing by football scores,” Arnusch told the Rimbey Review.
“But the final straw was an error with an affiliate hockey player who they thought was affiliated but wasn’t. That’s a Hockey Alberta matter and they suspended the coach for three games, and it kind of fell apart then.”
Rock general manager Rick Pankiw said the suspension had nothing to do with finances, but rather commitment.
“It takes a lot of time and commitment to run a team. I know Brenda (Rock president Lewis) and Darren have put in a lot of work to keep the team going, but there wasn’t enough commitment from players and the league told the team they are done for the year,” Pankiw told the Review.
Rock executive will look at their options during the team’s general meeting in May. The club could apply for re-entry into the Heritage League or take a full year’s leave of absence.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com