VIPERS LOSE CLOSE ONE TO THUNDER IN A SHOOTOUT

VIPERS LOSE CLOSE ONE TO THUNDER IN A SHOOTOUT

Third period come back earns Red Deer a point in 5-4 shootout loss to Airdrie.

For Immediate Release

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Red Deer, AB – On a Thursday night at the Red Deer Arena, the Red Deer Vipers welcomed the Airdrie Thunder in a showdown for second place in the Heritage Junior Hockey League Northern Division. The Vipers looked to Cole Sears, unbeaten in his last three, between the pipes, while the Thunder countered with Kade Talplin.

The home side stormed out of the gates with a majority of play in the Thunder zone early on. Declan Johnston looked to have opened the scoring for Red Deer only two minutes in, as he jammed a wrap around on the Airdrie netminder, but the goal was quickly called back. Despite the early pressure, the Vipers found themselves trailing seven minutes in. On the man advantage, Thunder forward Gavin Klein took several whacks at a rebound in the crease before he finally popped one over the left shoulder of Sears for the 1-0 lead. Red Deer would respond with just under five minutes remaining in the frame as defenseman Jonathan Finnigan rushed up the ice and fired a shot over the glove of Taplin from the right circle to tie the game 1-1. Airdrie quickly responded as only seconds after the Red Deer tally they retook the lead as Tyler Perkins fed a cross-crease pass over to Mark Kunitz who tapped it past Sears. The Thunder took their 2-1 lead into the second period.

Airdrie opened the middle frame with another marker five minutes in as Clay Murray finished off a rare two-on-zero rush for a 3-1 lead. The Vipers continued to fight back and found their second of the night just before the halfway mark of the period as Brett Hoppus put a shot on net from the left face circle that eluded Taplin to the short side. Red Deer then completed the comeback 57 seconds later as, Anthony Neurauter got his stick on a shot from Finnigan that beat the Airdrie goaltender to tie the game 3-3. The Thunder responded six minutes later to again retake the lead as Murray beat a Vipers’ defender to a loose puck and fired one past the glove of Sears. The end of the second period saw the Thunder take a 4-3 lead into the intermission.

The final period got off to a tentative start as neither team was able to generate a quality scoring chance. Despite the slow start, the Vipers were able to generate the game tying marker with just over five minutes to play in the game. Forward Kale Lapointe won a race to the loose puck in the Thunder zone before he buried a deke between the legs of Taplin to knot the game up 4-4. The teams remained deadlocked at 4-4 for the remainder of regulation as they headed to overtime.  

In the extra frame, the teams exchanged end-to-end rushes, but neither could find the game winning tally as they headed to a shootout.

In the shootout, Airdrie’s Murray scored the lone goal as he sniped one over the glove of Sears as the Thunder went on to collect the shootout victory. Thunder 5 Vipers 4 SO.

Red Deer outshot Airdrie 51-34.

The Vipers will now travel to Ponoka on Wednesday, January 20^th to take on the Stampeders. Red Deer will then return home to the Red Deer Arena on Saturday, January 23^rd when they welcome the Cochrane Generals. Puck drop is slated for 8:00 PM.

The Red Deer Vipers are proud to host the 2016 Hockey Alberta Provincial Championships taking place March 31^st – April 3^rd, 2016. Head over to the Vipers website at www.reddeervipers.com for more information.