League News

   

Liverpool in one semi-final

The Kensington P.E.I. Vipers guaranteed themselves two things Friday night, clinching 1st place in the round-robin portion of the Don Johnson Memorial Cup Championship Tournament in Liverpool with a wild 5-4 win over the host Privateers and a second consecutive game - this one an Atlantic Semi-Final with the Privateers Saturday night at Queens Place Emera Centre.  Reese Wyand scored the first of his three goals to put the Vipers up 1-0.  The Privateers stormed back with Malcom Bussey tying the game 1:22 later.  With around five minutes remaining in the first period, Alec Howie put Liverpool ahead 2-1 but a mere 32 seconds later Brett Ballum tied it again. With less than a minute to play, Liverpool was struggling in getting the puck out of their end when Rankin Noye seized control and took quick shot and it was 3-2 Vipers. The Privateers despite being outscored applied plenty of pressure on the Vipers outshooting them 21-7 in the first.  Wyand then put his club ahead 4-2 when he dumped a shot past Aidan Durnford.  With some frustration setting in for the host team, it only took 13 seconds for Wyand to make it 5-2 Vipers.  At this point, the Liverpool coaching staff pulled Durnford for reserve Chase Crowell and he never allowed another goal for the duration of the night.  The Privateers kept attacking and Joey Osborne moved the Privateers to within a pair at 5-3 with nice goal, shooting from the tip of the face-off circle to the left of the PEI net.  Liverpool outshot the Vipers 14-11 in both the second and third periods for game advantage of 49-29.  Early in the third, Rankin Noye and Wyand went in 2 on 1 with Noye deciding to hang onto it and with Crowell coming out to face him from an angle, Noye ripped a shot off the left goal post and score remained 5-3 Vipers.  However with less than five minutes gone in the third, Dylan Patterson went in alone on a break-away and as Patterson attempted to draw him out, Viper Goalie Noah Visser refused to go down as Patterson drew him to the side and shot the puck, it went by Visser and was laying in the crease when Patterson finally brought Liverpool to within a goal but that was all the scoring for the duration of the game and it then set up Saturday’s semi-final at 7:30 p.m. for a rematch.  The first semi-final Saturday will be played at 4:00 p.m. between the second place Antigonish Jr. Bulldogs and the Kent County Koyotes from New Brunswick.  The Koyotes will be looking to repeat as Atlantic Champions.

Apr 29, 2023