The defending champs stepped up their game but so did Kirby Halcrow who was up to the task on Wednesday night. The Millionaires’ goaltender stole the show – and Game 2 at the Wesbild Centre – with a stellar 55-save performance in Quesnel’s 4-2 upset victory.
Few expected the underdogs to compete against the league’s best team, but through two games they've shown themselves well in this Interior semi-final series.
The Millionaires opened the scoring in Game 1 and follow it up with opportunistic scoring and great goaltending, a recipe for playoff success.
More importantly, their big guns stepped up and contributed largely to the win. After Vernon scored the ice breaker on David Robinson’s goal 4:05 into the hockey game, BCHL Player of the Week Darick Ste-Marie tied it 45 seconds later on a feed from Trever Hertz.
Then with 2:25 remaining in the opening period, the Mills took the lead off the stick of Tyler French, another top player for Quesnel. French sniped it past the Vipers’ Graeme Gordon, who allowed four goals on 22 shots in the defeat.
It was much of the same in the second period. Vernon controlled the pace of play and took it to the road team with a 22-6 shot advantage, but the home side couldn’t beat Halcrow who was stopping everything that entered his crease. Timely saves were followed up by a big 3-1 goal late in the second period, as Taylor Holst took a pass from Justin Hogan and put it past Gordon for the two-goal advantage entering the final frame.
Nearly two minutes into the third, Quesnel added to its lead on a Branden Redschlag marker to make it 4-1. Halcrow faced 15 pucks in the third as Vernon pressed hard and only Rob Short could beat him with 3:26 remaining in the game.
While Halcrow was the story, the talk in Vernon will be a lethal power play gone dry in the first two games. Despite their Game 1 victory, the Vipers have put forth a pair of 0-for-6 efforts with the man advantage; a goal or two on the power play could’ve built momentum in Wednesday night's affair.
The 4-2 loss means they’ve relinquished home-ice for the time being but Vernon has a lot to be excited about. The Vipers outshot Quesnel 57-22 and know they’re the better hockey team.
Vernon has a day to figure out how to beat Halcrow before facing the Millionaires in Game 3 of the semi-final series Friday night at Quesnel Twin Arena.
In Penticton, meanwhile, the Vees have jumped out to a 2-0 series lead over the Westside Warriors as the Interior semi-final shifts to Westside for Game 3 on Friday night.
The game’s first star Denver Manderson once again was Penticton’s shining star in Wednesday night’s 3-2 victory over the Warriors.
One of the league’s top snipers was a part of all three markers with a goal and two assists in the win. Manderson, who has racked up 14 points in the BCHL playoffs, set up Alex Szczechura for the game’s first goal 3:37 into the first period. The Vees’ captain then added two more points on the power play, assisting on Garrett Milan’s second-period marker and scoring on the man advantage early in the third.
The Warriors’ Tyler Brickler helped his team close the gap to 3-2 with 6:35 to play but Sean Bonar shut the door with 21 saves on the evening. Defenseman Joey Laleggia was arguably Penticton’s best player on the backend with two assists in the Game 2 win.
