By Stephen Dafoe
Legal – After suffering a 7-4 loss to the Onoway Ice Dogs Wednesday night, the Legal Vipers picked up two points Saturday night for their 9-3 road victory over the Hinton Heat and followed it with another two points for their 6-5 victory over the Athabasca Aces Sunday afternoon.
Heading into Saturday night’s contest, both the Vipers and Heat stood at .500 hockey with three wins and three losses apiece, tying them for fourth place in the North Central Hockey League’s eight team line up.
The Vipers lit the board six minutes into the game and doubled their score shortly after the eight minute mark. Although Hinton answered back with one of their own at 8:23, the Vipers pocketed another with just under six minutes left in the frame to give the Legal club a 3-1 lead heading into the middle frame.
The snakes dominated the puck during the second period, picking up five goals for the fifteen shots they took at Hinton’s mesh. Although the Heat interrupted the Vipers’ scoring flurry with a goal of their own, they ended the period trailing the Vipers 8-2.
Third period game play saw the Vipers and the Heat each pick up a goal. For the Vipers, the goal served to widen the margin of their victory. For the Heat, it was insufficient material to thaw the Vipers’ lead.
Details on the Vipers 6-5 victory over the 2-6-0 Athabasca Aces Sunday afternoon were not available by MorinvilleNews.com press deadline.
The club plays two games this week – a Friday night home game rematch against the Athabasca Aces and a Saturday road game against the 3-3-1 Slave Lake Winterhawks. Game time for Friday night’s home ice contest is 8:30 p.m. at the Legal Arena.
