Knowing that a loss could prove a heavy blow to their chances of repeating as RBC Cup champions, the Vernon Vipers went ahead early and were able to hold on late in a 5-3 victory over the Oakville Blades on Tuesday afternoon.
Sahir Gill opened the scoring for Vernon at the 14:32 mark of the first period off a feed from Curtis Gedig, and helped extend the lead to a pair when he set up Dan Nycholat less than two minutes later on his team's first power-play of the afternoon.
The Vipers continued to roll offesnively in the second as tallies from Cole Ikkala and Gedig sandwiched Oakville's long goal from blueliner Michael Ingoldsby and the Doyle Cup champs appeared to be in cruise control. But the Blades would go on to draw within a goal, as Ryan Murphy beat Graeme Gordon on a third period man-advantage before Mark McGowan struck minutes later.
Vernon held on despite being outshot 12-6 in the third, however, as Jonathan Milhouse scored a late insurance marker into an empty net to preserve the win.
The Vipers will complete their second back-to-back stretch of the tournament on Wednesday when they face the Brockville Braves in their final round-robin game. The game will feature a pair of Fred Page Cup winners, as the BCHL champions and East Region winners both hoisted a trophy named after the longtime hockey builder.
A Vernon win would put the club in excellent position for a first or second place round-robin finish. Faceoff is set for 12:00 PM Pacific from Credit Union Place and is available in live streaming video through Hockey Canada's website on a pay-per-view basis.
