BCHL playoffs nearing, Vernon Vipers still jockeying for post-season position

With only two games left in the regular season, the Vernon Vipers still don’t know who they’ll face in the first round of the BCHL playoffs.

After 56 games, the Snakes have amassed 63 points and are currently tied for fourth place with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.

“I think we’re in a spot right now where we’re comfortable with our game right now. We’ve been playing better,” Vipers head coach Jason McKee told Global News on Thursday.

In the BCHL’s always tightly contested Interior Division, Vernon and Salmon Arm are only one point back of the third-place Wenatchee Wild.

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“It’s going to come down to the last two games of the regular season for all three teams. Obviously, we want to finish as high as we can,” McKee said.

The Vipers will host the West Kelowna Warriors on Friday, kicking off a home-and-home series that will determine whether the Vipers will have home-ice advantage to start the playoffs.

But McKee says competition is always tight in the Interior Division.

“There’s no easy match-ups. There’s a lot of good teams in this league, and, at the end of the day, we’re just trying to finish as high as we can,” McKee said.

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One player McKee will count on to help the Vipers “finish as high as they can” will be former Regina Pat Dawson Holt.

“We’ve had some ups and downs, we’ve overcome some adversity, but we’re starting to play some good hockey right now,” Holt said.

Holt has been an offensive force to be reckoned with since coming over from the WHL earlier in the season.

The transition took some time, but Holt now leads the team in points per game, with 21 goals and 23 assists in 39 games.

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It’s a scoring touch Holt knows that the Vipers will need in order to go deep into the playoffs this season.

“Playoffs are  a different animal. You have to be at your best every night if you’re going to win,” Holt said.

Vipers faithful are hopeful their team is peaking at the right time so they’ll get a chance to see some extra games at Vernon’s Kal Tire Place — a place the Vipers fans affectionately call the Snake Pit.

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“I think they have a good chance of staying in the playoffs,” said one fan.

“They’ve played really, really well, especially since Christmas,” added another Vipers booster.

But another fan reluctantly admitted “I think they’ll win the first round but the second round is going to be tough,”

Puck drop is 7 p.m., Friday, at Kal Tire place for the first of two weekend games against the Warriors.