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Photo credit: Vernon Vipers/X
By Pete McIntyre
BCHL

Largest crowd of season sees Vipers take down Silverbacks

Dec 30, 2023 | 10:30 AM

It was a festive mood at Kal Tire Place Friday night as the hometown Vernon Vipers knocked off the Salmon Arm Silverbacks 5-2 with a sold-out crowd on hand.

Owen Kim scored a goal and added 3 assists to earn first star honours before 3,053 fans in the first game for both teams since a two-week holiday break in the BC Hockey League.

Image credit: Vernon Vipers/X

Anthony Cliche, Payton Struck, Erik Pastro and Hank Cleaves also netted singles for the Vipers who improved to 17-10-1-0, good enough for fourth place in the Interior Conference, three points back of the third place Silverbacks (18-8-0-2).

Ethan David made 25 saves to get his 13th win of the season, only allowing goals to Cole Cooksey and Jonah Aegerter.

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It was the first time in 13 games the Vipers were able to ice a 21-person roster as Cleaves, Isaac Fecteau, Maks Percic and Luke Pakulak returned to the lineup after lengthy absences.

“We were very happy with the performance, effort and energy of our players tonight,” Lukas Lomicky, Vipers assistant coach, told vernonvipers.com. “The boys showed up strong tonight and got rewarded with a win in front of that huge crowd. A big thank you to all the fans who came to cheer them on.”

“It was awesome to come back to the team after the break and get the win in front of a sold out crowd,” said Cleaves who was selected the second star after playing for the first time since early November. “I couldn’t be happier to be back and am excited to keep it going for Sunday.”

Next up for the Vipers will be a showdown with the league-leading Penticton Vees (20-4-2-2) at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 31 at Kal Tire Place.

The Vees are in action Saturday night, visiting Salmon Arm.

by Pete McIntyre
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