David Robinson scored the game-winning goal late in the second period, breaking open a 3-3 tie and helping the Vernon Vipers complete a perfect preliminary round with a 5-3 win over the Pembroke Lumber Kings on Thursday night.
Despite the loss, the Lumber Kings earned a semifinal spot – they needed a mathematical tie-breaking formula to earn the third seed and set up a Saturday date with the host Camrose Kodiaks (6 p.m. MT).
The Vipers, who had already clinched first place, will meet the Wellington Dukes in the early semi (2 p.m. MT).
Patrick McGillis, Colton Sparrow, John Knisley and Dylan Walchuk also had goals for Vernon (4-0), which got points from 12 different players in the win. The Vipers finished the preliminary round undefeated for the second time in three years. They’ve lost just once in the prelims in that span – an overtime loss to Dauphin last year.
Jonathan Milley, Brandon Gagne and Will Seeber scored in a span of 2:36 early in the second period for Pembroke (1-3), turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
In the end, the Lumber Kings edged out fellow 1-3 teams Portage and Wellington for third place.
Here’s how: The first tie-breaker was goals for, plus goals against, divided by goals for (GF GA/GF), with the lower number taking the higher seed. But all three teams finished with even, meaning the next tie-breaker was GF GA/GF in all four games, which left the Lumber Kings (11 14/11=2.27) ahead of the Dukes (12 16/12=2.33)and Terriers (12 17/12=2.42).
