The Vernon Vipers have a well-deserved reputation as a winner in the B.C. Hockey League.
They always seem to recruit a competitive team and there's no reason to believe this year's version of the Vipers will be any different.
They came into the Prince George Coliseum Friday night and showed the Prince George Spruce Kings they mean business, beating the home team 5-3 in the Kings' final preseason game in their own rink.
Callum Volpe scored the winner on his former Vancouver Northeast Chiefs major midget teammate, Kings goalie Liam McCloskey, with 8:51 gone on the third period. The Kings came back with a late power-play goal from New York State native Corey Hoffman and had another chance to tie it with Vipers forward Colton McCarthy off for slashing but Jagger Williamson's long approach shot went into the empty net off the goalpost with 43 seconds left to end the suspense.
"I liked the effort for the most part, obviously there's going to be some growing pains with a fairly new group and there's been a lot of turnover and with a new coaching staff implementing new systems its going to take some time for the players from the players to grasp that," said Kings general manager Mike Hawes.
"We only have one exhibition game left and some of the older guys need t get going here. we're going to have to lean on them heavily, especially early on in the season."
The Vipers jumped in front 2-0 after one period, both goals coming from the sticks of rookies trying to make the jump to junior A this season. Brett Stapley, who played major midget for the North Island Silvertips, got lucky when his shot from just inside the blueline ticked off the stick of Kings' Nick Guerra and changed directions before it got to goalie Alex Brooks-Potts. The second goal was a howitzer fired by Reece Soukaroff, who played last year for the triple-A midget Calgary Royals.
The Kings halved the lead early in the second period while on a two-man advantage. Braiden Epp collected a rebound right in front of the Vipers' net and went wide to lift a backhander over the outstretched leg of Jarrod Schamerhorn, a 20-year-old back for his second season stopping pucks for the Vipers.
Steven Jandric, an 18-year-old Prince George minor hockey product who was among the leading pointgetters last season for the Cariboo Cougars, drew an assist on Stapley's goal. Jandric had a brief trial last year with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks and appears to have earned himself a spot with the Vipers.
Jandric played left wing on a line with centre Peter Tufto and Denver University recruit Liam Finlay and was rewarded with some power play duty late in the second period which led to his second assist of the game. Jandric got the puck in deep along the end boards to Tufto, who slid a pass to Finlay, stationed in scoring position off the post and his quick low release eluded McCloskey, making his first Coliseum appearance in net for the Kings.
The Kings had just tied it up, 15:06 into the second, on a slick individual effort from second-year defenceman Alex Stoley, who skated unmolested past five Vipers with the puck and roofed a shot in behind Schamerhorn.
"That was a great effort from Alex, we had some injuries on defence and we were playing a little shorthanded back there," said Hawes. "It was a good job by the D-corps overall and a great play by Alex on that one. He has a ton of skill and we saw it there.
"Things were a little scrambly in our own zone and neither one of our goalies can be blamed for the goals tonight."
McCloskey came in to replace Brooks-Potts just after the 10-minute mark of the second period and was called upon early to make a handful of saves. The 17-year-old McCloskey was solid in his home-ice debut allowing two on 20 shots, after Brooks-Potts gave up two goals on 12 shots in his half of the game.
Schamerhorn went the distance in net for Vernon, blocking 30 shots as the Vipers outshot the Kings 33-27.
Jandric's brother Chris, a 16-year-old, was easily the smallest player on the Vipers defence but didn't look out of place playing his first game in Prince George as a member of the opposition. The younger Jandric played seven games last season for the Cariboo Cougars.
The Vipers and Kings meet again tonight in Vernon, the final preseason game for both teams. The Kings host the expansion Wenatchee Wild for a two-game set in their home-opening weekend Friday and Saturday. The Vipers take on the Trail Smoke Eaters in a home-and-home series starting Friday in Vernon.
