The Warriors avoid a Vipers comeback and skate off with a 5-4 victory Friday night.
The Vipers came out strong to start the hockey game. First, rookie Luke Buss was able to beat Warriors goaltender Justin Katz short side to make it 1-0. Shortly after Buss would add another to make it 2-0. Warriors would finally get on the board late on the powerplay when Marcus Joughin crossed a pass to Felix Trudeau cutting the lead to one heading into the dressing room. The Warriors would start the second period on a 4 minute double minor handed to the Vipers and took full advantage. First the same connection of Jugnauth to Joughin to Trudeau would connect for Trudeau’s second of the night, then it was Tyler Cristall’s turn to get in on the action after he was able to backhand a puck past Vipers goaltender Ethan David to give the Warriors their first lead of the evening 3-2. Late in the second frame Cristall would go out of his way to find an open John Evans in the slot who made no mistake placing the puck top shelf making it 4-2.
Period 3 started similar to period 2 with the Warriors back on the attack. A solid forecheck in the neutral zone allowed Alexi Van Houtte-Cachero to find Marcus Joughin for his first of the preseason giving the Warriors a 5-2 lead. The Vipers would make things interesting scoring a pair late but would find that tying goal to force overtime. The Warriors would escape with a 5-4 victory.