Vipers bow to Coventry
THE Mobilx Vipers' attempt to
recreate their 2006 play-off
final triumph ended at the first
hurdle in Nottingham.
Despite taking the lead with
just over 30 seconds on the
board, the Tynesiders succumbed
to a lack of discipline
and ended up on the wrong end
of a 4-2 scoreline against
Coventry.
Flying winger Todd Jackson
sent the North-East faithful
into raptures when he gave the
Vipers a dream start. However,
penalty trouble ensued and
they ended the second session
on the back foot, courtesy of
strikes from Adam Calder, Curtis
Huppe and Slyvain Cloutier.
Head coach Rob Wilson,
icing to bolster his squad, gave
the Vipers hope with 11 minutes
remaining but they could
not pull the game back.
Net minder Ryan MacDonald
was pulled with just over a
minute left (for the extra
skater) but Calder killed the
game with a strike into the
empty net.
Deflated Wilson said: "We
talked all week about controlled
aggression but we took
needless penalties. Five on five
we matched them but their
powerplay killed us. They
haven't won the League and
Cup this year by having a poor
powerplay, and despite our
planning and preparation we
took penalties.
"At 3-1, we killed off the
major penalty and we felt that
the momentum had shifted towards
us. So we took that into
the final period and got the one
goal back but couldn't get any
closer. We gave it our all but it
wasn't quite good enough to
win the game."
The powerplay advantage
was reiterated by Blaze head
coach Paul Thompson. "We
knew that Newcastle would
make it tough for us," said Wilson's
great friend and Great
Britain partner. "Our powerplay
has been strong all year
and fortunately for us we were
able to capitalise on a couple of
their penalties."
Wilson is focused on next
season, a task which will be
made all the harder with the
retirement of stalwart Shaun
Johnson.
"You can't replace Shuggy,"
said the Canadian. "He's a big
part of the team and the organisation
and has been for some
time. I promised him a third
line job five years ago and he's
been playing first line.
"He doesn't moan or complain;
he just comes to the rink
each day for games or practice
and puts in a hard shift.
"He's absolutely choked right
now, as are all of the players.
He is a one-off in the game so
next season will be a tough one
for us without him."
Coventry lost the final 2-0 to
Sheffield Steelers. Since lifting
the trophy in 2004, Steelers suffered
successive semi-final defeats
to Coventry and Newcastle
before missing out on the
final four altogether last season,
but have now ended their
trophy drought.
9:42am Monday 7th April 2008
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