The 99Vipers faced off against a very good East Coast Wizards team on Saturday night. The team hung tough with the game being much closer than the score indicated.

Great team effort with awesome goaltending and a hat trick from Michael Gillis.

The Power Play once again was the story in this one as the  Vipers would score 5 unanswered golas, 3 of them on the PP as they grinded out a 5-1 win against a well coached scrappy Worcester Crusader team. Aaron McDonnell would play well in this one between the pipes as he would come up with a big breakaway save in the second when this one was still close. Kyle Lynch (1-2-3) would knot things up at 1 with Dante MAribito (1-1-2) picking up the helper. Maribito and Lynchy would hook up again just 3 minutes later on a pretty 2v1 as Maribito banged home a nice pass across the crease to Maribito. Noah Maercklein on the PP would fire a shot that had eyes from the point for the 4 goal lead, Lynchy gathered a helper on that one. Kyle Hentosh (2-0-2) would benefit from some nice puck movement and finished off a nice PP set up as Maribito took a pass from Maerckein on the half wall, Dante walked out and then hit Henny with a seed to the back door for the tap in. The Viper defense again played a very solid game doing a nice job of eliminating time and space by stepping up on the blue.

In a game that featured 14 penalties aside the Vipers flexed their muscle and scored 3 unanswered PP goals to come away with the 3-1 win. The Vipers were led by the strong goaltending of Zach Laramie who at one point resembled Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas as he mad a left pad save while on his stomach facing his own goal. He would get plenty of help though as the Vipers played some exceptional team defense the whole morning. Noah Maercklein would pull the Vipers to a 1-1 tie in the first period, as he would skate down the left wing and bounce one in off a Glades defender just 29 seconds after the Glades would get a shorty for the 1-0 lead. Dante Maribito (1-1-2) would score the eventual game winner on the PP in the 2nd, Kyle Lynch and Maercklein (1-1-2) added the helpers. Kyle Hentosh would add the insurance tally as he was in the right spot at the right time to get a piece of a Steven Tettoni blast, MAribito also picked up the helper. When there was any kind of flow to this game they did a good job of dictating the pace of the game and eventually word down the very talented Glades.

Great overall team effort with Connor Crovo and Sal Costanzo chipping in with two goals each.

Great team effort with awesome goaltending from Dave Witkowski

The 98 Elites scored 4 goals in 9 minutes of the first period and went on to cruise in this one 7-1. The Vipers used a tenascious forecheck and stifling team defense in allowing just a handful of shots on net. The Defense of pairings of Steven Tettoni, Aaron Dollin and Christian Kukas, Ryan Connearney and Dom Cappadona and Patrick McCarthy played a solid game in front of goaltenders Zach Laramie and Aaron McDonnell. The defense made good desicions, good reads and good steps the entire game making for some quick and smooth tranistion while also showing good mistake management. The offense was led by the Green line of Dante Maribito (3-1-4) who chipped in with the "hatty" one of which was a "shorty' and 2 PP goals, Kyle Lynch (2-2-4) and Kyle Hentosh (1-2-3). Alex Delvento scored the other one of a beautiful set face-off play from Ross Wahl and Steven Tettoni (2 Assists). Kukas(2) and McCarthy also picked up helpers. Ross Wahl and Braden Haley were singled out for their strong play as well

The 98 Vipers are gearing up for one of the top 98 Tournaments in New England in a couple of weeks, which will feature some of the top rated teams from the United States and Canada, including the defending 98 National Champion New Jersey Colonials, and local heavyweights the Boston Jr Eagles..

The East Coast Prep Cup

at Cushing & Lawrence Academy

October 21-23, 2011

The East Coast Prep Cup is an invite-only tournament which will include the top organizations in the U.S. and Canada. This event will be highly scouted by New England Prep coaches. The showcase will provide an opportunity for potential student-athletes to be exposed to top area prep schools, enjoy Professional guest speakers, campus tours and most importantly, elite competition. Please fill out the below form to enter your team. Don’t miss the event that will help your player’s transition into the next level

Check out the link to see all the teams playing in The East Coast Prep Cup

http://www.eastcoastclassictournaments.com/leagues/teams.cfm?leagueID=19123&clientID=5134

The Vipers scored 4 goals in the second period and only allowed a handful of shots as they won easily 5-2 over the scrappy Wizards. Trying to get back on track the Vipers came out a little flay in the third but were able to keep sustained pressure and puck possession but could not score. Kyle Lynch capped a fine weekend scoring 3 goals and assisting on 2 others, his last was a PP goal that was set up perfectly by Kyle Hentosh (0-3-3). Dante Maribito also had a big afternoon posting a 1-3-4 day. Brendan White added the other tally as he banged in a goal mouth scramble. The Viper defense again made the easy plays and continued to push the puck up. Aaron McDonnell and Zach Laramie benefited from the stingy defense between the pipes as they were not called upon very often.

The Vipers bounced back against the Advantage in this one despite some undisciplined play in the first period but managed to win this one 9-0. Despite the score the Vipers continue to be stuck in some uninspired play at times. The Vipers got scoring from all 3 lines as the Green Line was paced by Dante Maribito (2-2-4), Kyle Lynch (2-1-3) and Kyle Hentosh (0-3-3) the Red Line was led by Brendan White (2-0-2) and Braden Haley (0-1-1) and the Yellow line was anchored by Evan Daddario (1-1-2), Noah Maercklein (1-0-1) and Ross Wahl (1-0-1). Alex Delvento and Dom Cappadona also picked up single helpers. The Viper defense did a nice job of making the simple plays and creating offense with quick transition.