Bryce Kakoske was the hero for the Vernon Vipers in a 5-0 victory over the Vees in Game 4, scoring the game’s first two goals to launch what would become a lopsided scoring fest on Wednesday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre. The win puts the 2009 Fred Page Cup champions ahead 3-1 in the Interior Conference Finals series, and one step closer to a repeat.
Graeme Gordon recorded his fourth shutout of the BCHL playoffs — and his second of the Interior Conference Finals — and now boasts a tremendous 1.50 goals-against average in 10 games played. He turned aside all nine Vees shots in the opening period, as the home side outshot the Vipers by a 9-5 margin.
But it was Kakoske who scored the all-important icebreaker for the defending champions at the 7:31 mark of the first, beating Sean Bonar after a pass from Jonathan Milhouse. Then five minutes into the second, the same Kakoske-Milhouse combination connected on the power play with Eric Filiou in the box for high sticking. Another Vernon goal with the man advantage came off the stick of Adam Thompson midway through the middle frame to make it a 3-0 game.
In the third, the Vipers worked their magic on special teams again. Seven seconds following a Sahir Gill penalty, Mike Collins struck quickly while shorthanded to put Vernon in front by four. In the final minute, Cole Ikkala then added another power-play marker — Vernon’s third of the game with the man advantage — to seal the 5-0 win.
Five Vipers finished the night with two points, including Kakoske’s two-goal performance. But Milhouse, Thompson, Collins and Steven Weinstein also chipped in with two-point games.
Vernon now has three opportunities to advance to their second Fred Page Cup Finals in as many seasons, while the Vees would need three straight wins of their own, including two on the road at Wesbild Centre, to advance. Penticton hopes that the comeback trail begins with Game 5 on Friday evening at 7:00 PM.
