Saturday, April 5, 2008 - Elite League Play-Offs, Semi-final, Coventry Blaze 4-2 Mobilx Newcastle Vipers

FORMER Vipers goalie Trevor Koenig returned to haunt his old club as a hard-grafting Newcastle side was knocked out of the Play-Offs by Elite League champions Coventry Blaze.

Going into the semi-final, the ever-confident Koenig was top of the netminder charts with a 93 per cent save rate for the season, while the Blaze also sported the league's top two scorers, Adam Calder and Dan Carlson.

Meanwhile, for the Vipers, you had to look to seventh place in the goalie rankings to find youngster Ryan MacDonald, and 17th in the scoring to reach their top man, Colin Shields.

And it was the very differences these statistics outline that proved the divide between two sides which were meeting on neutral ice for the first time in a season which has seen each win all three competitive games on the other's ice.

That evenness was mirrored when each side won one face-off each inside the first six second. However, a mistake by Koenig allowed the Vipers onto the board only 38 seconds into the match.

Derek Campbell's shot from the left boards crept through Koenig's defences and the Blaze were unable to clear the puck from the line before Todd Jackson slipped in to touch it across the line to give the Vipers their dream start.

However, Koenig's self-belief failed to be broken when many goalies would have crumbled following such an error at the start of a massive tie and the stopper proved the difference maker in a period which could have seen the Vipers add another couple of goals to their tally.

The early going was fiery, with Rob Wilson and Brett Clouthier niggling and the Vipers coach heading to the bin for slashing, followed by Danny Stewart for the same offence on three minutes.

A Ben Storey slapshot was deflected just wide of goal and then captain David Longstaff was unfortunate not to add to the lead with some good stick work around the net.

But, as the programme notes warned, the Vipers could ill afford to allow the fast and skillful Blaze much penalty-killing time, but as the league's most prolific offenders by more than 150 PIMs it was inevitable that infringements would be called - and that the Blaze would take advantage.

And so they did, with three unanswered powerplay goals, starting on 8.00 with Shields in the bin for interference. Blaze instantly looked dangerous and some neat passing down the right saw Curtis Huppe set up Calder for his 57th of the season.

Derek Campbell almost instantly replied, but he was overstretched on the backstick and unable to direct his effort past Koenig.

The Vipers were given two powerplays of their own, but found themselves unable to capitalise and put themselves ahead and, instead, it was a Pavel Gomeniuk penalty for delaying the game which led to the Blaze's go-ahead goal on 17.15.

Carlson registered his 79th assist of the season when he fired at MacDonald, who gave up a rebound which Clouthier made no mistake in firing home at the near post.

A strong performance by Jeff Hutchins for the Vipers began to sour on 18.04 when he was called for interference, clattering Koenig behind the Blaze goal and drawing an interference penalty which led to a peppering of shots from Coventry's former Viper Jonathan Weaver, who found himself repeatedly in a shooting position from the right point.

The Blaze's third powerplay goal came from Hutchins' second penalty, a hooking call on 27.41, and Huppe pounced as MacDonald could only push the puck away from a Carlson shot.

It went from bad to as bad as it can get for Hutchins on 30.23 as he raised his stick and caught Carlson in the face, drawing blood and earning the former Blaze star a five minute plus game misconduct penalty.

Uncharacteristically, Paul Thompson's men failed to find the mark with five minutes of powerplay which proved so poor the crowd began a Mexican wave.

After the Vipers had killed the penalty, things started to get heated and two mini brawls started up, the first with Andre Payette, who was in the unenviable position of having drawn more fighting majors than anyone else in the league this season with 20, and Barrie Moore in the middle of the action and binned for two minutes each as a result.

Two minutes later, things erupted again as Payette returned to the ice to take on the world with Longstaff and Derek Campbell at his side. Campbell and Payette, along with Matt Soderstrom, found themselves on two minute roughing penalties, but it was Neal Martin who came off worst, with two for roughing and a rather lenient two more for a nasty slash on Longstaff from outside the brawl.

The Vipers came out for the third in hard-working form and MacDonald made the first decisive save of the period when he caught a Moore first timer.

Shaun Johnson, playing his final Vipers game, was thrice denied in front of the net, but it was a Newcastle powerplay which brought the next goal and drew the Tyneside outfit to within one of Coventry.

Huppe was serving penance for tripping when the puck came back from Longstaff to Wilson on the point and the slapshot took a deflection on its way to the back of Koenig's net.

Huppe himself hit the post on his return as the Blaze tried to put the game beyond the Vipers who saw a Mark Gouett shot saved low at the post.

With 2.02 to go, the Vipers called a time out and, 40 seconds later, MacDonald left his net for the extra skater.

Both sides had chances, but it was a missed effort by Coventry which actually led to the killer blow as Moore chased the puck down behind the net and played a neat pass to Calder, who tucked it away with only nine seconds on the clock, putting an end to the Vipers' mixed season.

10:42am Monday 7th April 2008

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