Vipers pushed to brink

by Rob Benneian

For the first time in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff series between the LaSalle Vipers and Strathroy Rockets, the home team was not victorious.

The Rockets skated to a 2-1 victory  over the Vipers at the Vollmer Centre in LaSalle on the strength of a Shawn Grogan goal with 5:25 to play. The win came just 24 hours after the Rockets tied their best-of-seven series at two games apiece in Strathroy.

The Vipers now must win Saturday evening in Strathroy and Sunday afternoon in LaSalle to advance to the second round of the GOJHL post-season. This task will prove difficult if Rockets netminder Dalen Kuchmey continues to play the way he has been.

“Their goaltender played great,” said Vipers head coach Ryan Donally. “He’s been the top goalie throughout the season and I think he held true to form tonight. We had a ton of glorious scoring opportunities and just couldn’t find the back of the cage.”

Unfinished chances was the name of the game for the Rockets in the first two games in LaSalle. Goaltender Taylor Speed allowed just three goals in the Vipers two victories, including a 2-0 shutout in the series opener.

“We knew we had to win one in this barn,” said Rockets head coach Dan Gibson. “We played a solid game last night (a 3-1 victory), and the boys learned we had to have a solid, 60-minute effort.”

LaSalle pressed for the equalizing goal in the game’s final moments with Speed pulled for an extra attacker but came up just short. The Rockets appeared to be holding on for dear life and praying for the final buzzer.

“We were just trying to do anything to get the puck out,” Grogan said. “They really came hard. They’ve got a lot of offensive guys and we just had to chip the puck out and keep it out of our end.”

If there is a silver lining in this loss for the Vipers, head coach Ryan Donally may have found it.

“The good thing is it’s not over until a team wins four,” Donally said. “Last year (as the assistant coach for the University of Windsor Lancers) we were heading in to Lakehead and they hadn’t lost at home in a playoff series in like eight years and we took two (games). Until it’s over, we firmly believe we have hope and we firmly believe we have a chance.”