After 10 years of being Summit County’s premier Senior-A hockey team, the Breckenridge Vipers may just have its best team yet. The Mountain Hockey League team could not have gotten out to a better start to the season, winning its first six games in a dominant fashion.

The Vipers looked to keep its winning streak alive on Friday, Dec. 6, as it took on the Sin City Kings at Stephen C. West Ice Arena. In the second series this season between the two teams, Breckenridge once again outplayed the Las Vegas team.

A little over two minutes into the first period, the Vipers scored their first goal of the game when Tim Vantuinen put a shot behind the Kings’ goalie. The first goal opened the floodgates for the Vipers, leading to a second goal from the stick of Richie Kaye.

The second goal seemed to awaken the Kings’ bench leading to the team sending several shots toward Vipers’ goalie JR Engelbert. The veteran goaltender showed his expertise in net, making a pad save before sending a follow-up shot wide of the net with a flip of his skate.

The saves gave the Vipers even more momentum, resulting in a Mitch Bailey goal. Trailing 3-0, Sin City crept past the Breckenridge defense and scored its first goal of the game.

It was not long before the Vipers regained its three-goal advantage, though, as Andrew Monesi brought the score to 4-1 to go into the first intermission. 

The second period was slower moving in terms of scoring, but it was riddled with hits and scrums between the two teams. The aggressive play led to multiple power plays for both teams. Sin City attempted to score a goal on a four-on-three advantage, but it could not slip the puck past Tom Brown who came in for Engelbert at the start of the period.

Once all of the penalties had been fought off, the Vipers went back to firing shots on net to expand upon its lead. The Vipers threatened the net, but it was the Kings who scored the next goal, bringing the score to 4-2 with under 10 minutes remaining in the middle frame. 

Breckenridge tightened up on both sides of the ice to close out the period. Vipers’ captain Rich Batenburg scored the team’s fifth goal of the night, netting a goal from just outside the goalie crease.

Soon after scoring the team’s fifth goal, Batenburg scored his second of the night. Standing near the left faceoff circle, Batenburg sniped a shot into the net to give the Vipers a comfortable 6-2 lead. Seconds later, the Vipers closed out the period by scoring a seventh goal, sending the Kings into the locker room in a fit of rage.

Over the final, 20-minute frame, the Breckenridge defense prevented Sin City from recording shots on net, giving way to the team’s seventh-straight win. Breckenridge defeated Sin City, 7-2.

The Vipers defeated the Sin City Kings again, 7-3, on Saturday, Dec. 7.

The Breckenridge Vipers are now 8-0, and will close out the month of December with an away series against the Mansfield Barracudas on Dec. 20 and Dec. 21.

The Vipers will play its first home games of the new year on Jan. 10-11 against the San Diego Hockey Club.