Vipers drop 8-1 loss to Maroons

By Sarah Ryrie

It wasn’t a great night for the LaSalle Vipers.

The Vipers lost 8-1 to their rivals the Chatham Maroons in front of 841 fans at the Vollmer Recreational Complex Jan. 29.

Vipers Captain, Dylan Denomme doesn’t think this is how they should be playing.

“It’s too close to playoffs to play like this,” said Denomme.”I mean we still got to play the games. It doesn’t matter who they put on the ice.”

After a deadlocked first period the Maroons’ opened the scoring with five goals from Micheal Verboom, Adam Arseneault and Kyle Brothers who recorded his hundredth point of the season against the Vipers, in 39 games so far this season.

Vipers’ goalie Cameron Zanussi was replaced in favour of backup goalie Paolo Battisti after allowing four goals on 13 shots.

The Vipers only goal of the night was scored on a power play by Aaron Luchuk when he finished off a tic-tac passing play between Andrew Burns and Dylan Denomme.

Vipers head coach Bill Bowler said this game isn’t one they will take lightly. He said players didn’t
compete at a top level and appeared to give up early when they fell behind.

“This is a real tough game to evaluate. Our compete level and our push back is just unacceptable,” said Bowler. “Anytime you lose 8-1 at home, we have to take a hard look.”

This was the first game the Maroons have played since the Ontario Hockey Association fined the team $4,500, suspended their general manager Bill Szekesy and revealed to the public they had too many out of country players.

“I mean we still got to play the games,”said Denomme. “It doesn’t matter who they put on the ice.”