By Chad Klassen

Venom undisciplined in stunning home loss to Vernon

Jul 17, 2018 | 11:02 PM

KAMLOOPS — Venom coaches and players sat outside the home locker room at Memorial Arena on Tuesday night in disbelief, wondering what went wrong in Game 2 of their Thompson-Okanagan Junior Lacrosse final against Vernon.

“Yeah probably the ugliest one that I’ve had coaching junior lacrosse here in Kamloops. Pretty tough night for us,” said Venom head coach Doug Clark after a 20-7 loss to the Vernon Tigers at home. 

The Venom came in with momentum, despite a 13-12 loss in the opening game on Sunday, and they opened the scoring when Tanner Koroluk finished off his own rebound after being stopped on a breakaway. But from there on, the Tigers took over the game and scored the next five goals, leading 6-3 at the end of the first period.

The visitors would do all the scoring in the middle frame, tallying six in total to quiet the crowd of about 250 people on Tuesday night and take a 12-3 lead.

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The Tigers took full advantage of 11 Kamloops penalties in the second period, including two game misconduct. At one time, the Venom had five players in the penalty box in the second. By the end of the 13-point loss, the game sheet read 22 penalties by Kamloops. 

“We were completely undisciplined and they have a very good power play. They make you pay every time,” said Clark. “That’s what we just talked about in the dressing room. Hopefully we’ll come out Thursday night with a little more discipline, a little smarter.”

Vernon head coach Ryan Minchenko agreed the win for his team was aided by too many penalties by the Venom. 

“Just penalties. We managed to stay away from them and it worked out well for us at the end of the day,” said Minchenko, whose team took eight penalties all game, including five in the third period when the game got more chippy. 

Vernon’s Kaden Doughty led all players with five goals and five assists, while Kamloops’ Anthony Matusiak led the home side with two goals and an assist.

The series shifts back to Vernon for Game 3 on Thursday and the Venom need a win to force a fourth game on Saturday night in Kamloops. While the Tigers can taste their first TOJLL championship in four years, the Venom believe the series is far from done. 

“No, it ain’t over. It ain’t over,” said Clark emphatically outside the Venom locker room on Tuesday night. “It takes three to win and we’ve been here before.”