The Vipers captured another championship this past weekend by
winning the EHF U18 league championship. The Vipers rolled through the
semi-finals with an 11-5 victory and had trick from Matignon’s leading goal
scorer John Andrews. In the finals, they faced a “New & Improved” Bulldogs
team that came out extremely aggressive and scored four early goals taking
advantage of the Vipers slow start. After a mid-game time-out and some
individual player self-reflection, the Vipers settled in one shift at a time
chipping away the old fashion way. Having the Bulldogs take a 4 minute penalty,
the Vipers immediately scored two goals in one shift to jump right back into the
game. Having the game shift in a positive direction, the Vipers continued the
aggressive fore-check by forcing defensive zone turnovers and again capitalized
on the power play with a Ryan Spagnoli snipe from the top of the slot. With
nothing to lose the Matignon trio of Andrews, McPherson, Petrie took matters
into their own hands. On a neutral zone transition McPherson carried the play on
a three on two and caught the goalie sleeping with an absolute blast from the
blue line to tie the game and force the overtime.
With the Vipers having experience with over-time from the
previous State championship weekend they remained calm and incorporated a four
forward and one defense offensive attack system in play early to put the Dogs
back on their heels. With all pucks to the net and recognizing the many rebounds
being left on the door step, McPherson once again chose to take ownership and
“seize the moment” by burying a loose puck rebound to win the EHF
Championship!
“These young men are a special group and it’s a true honor to
be a part of their continued development, they have worked extremely hard, paid
their dues on and off the ice and have had to deal with much adversity this past
season. While doing so, they never lost focus and their true character was
certainly tested and revealed, we couldn’t be any prouder for them, they deserve
this Championship”… Coach Somerville
