Vernon, BC: George Stavrianeas had a career high 4 assist night and Anthony Cliche scored the goal of the night early in the first period as the Vernon Vipers downed the Prince George Spruce Kings 6-2 in front of just under 2500 fans at Kal Tire Place.
“We appreciate the support of our fans who have been unreal this season,” says Assistant Coach of the Vipers Lukas Lomicky. “We felt like we owed them a bounce back effort after Wednesday night. Despite scoring the first goal, I felt we needed to be better in the second period and came out with much more energy. The powerplay gave us the spark we needed with those two big goals. Again, just a big thank you to everyone who came and supported the team and Teddy Bear Toss for such a good cause.”
Connor Elliott gave the Vipers the lead with his fourth goal of the season. He added an assist later on. Isaac Tremblay scored the first of two goals on the night just 30 seconds later. From there another powerplay goal, this time from Shea Busch.
Owen Kim and Isaac Tremblay had two goals in the third period.
The goal of the night, that sent the Teddy Bear’s flying came from Anthony Cliche just over five minutes into the game.
“Scoring the teddy bear toss goal was a great feeling and a memory I’ll keep from my time in Vernon,” says Cliche. “We had a tough first period, but I’m happy we found a way to score some goals and get the two points.”
George Stavrianeas assisted on the games first four goals, a career high.
It was another solid performance from Viper goaltending as Colin Reay turned aside 28 of 30 for his fourth win of the season.
The Vipers powerplay finished the night 3 for 6, while their PK was a perfect 4 of 4.
Luca Primerano and Max Ranstrom scored the Prince George goals while both goaltenders got some action. Ryan Sanborn started and finished, he had 20 saves on 24 shots, while Marcus Ouellet had 4 saves on 6 shots.
The Vipers will hit the road for a pair of games next weekend starting Friday night in Trail.
