Vipers bow to Coventry

9:42am Monday 7th April 2008

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.

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