The Vipers finished out the pre-season with a 6-2 win over Cleveland and concluded the tune-up games at 2-1-1.
Detroit struck first with a goal just 1:15 into the game. Cleveland came back with two straight to take their only lead of the night on goals from Shawn McNeil and Kyle Calder. From there, it was all Vipers. Detroit scored four un-answered goals to seal the win.
Scoring read this way for Detroit:
1st period
Eduard Pershin with a power play goal from Shawn Maltby and Kyle Kos 1-0 Vipers
Xavier Delisle from Corey Spring and Jeff Shevalier 2-2 tie
Matt Elich from Doug Doull (Game-winning goal) 3-2 Vipers
2nd period
Dale Rominski from Justin Clark and Mike Hall 4-2 Vipers
Corey Spring from Xavier Delisle and Kyle Kos 5-2 Vipers
3rd period Rob Millar from Xavier Delisle and Jason Robinson 6-2 Vipers
Tim Thomas stopped 26 of 28 shots in goal for the win
Cleveland outshot Detroit 28-25
Cleveland went 1-8 on the power play
Detroit went 2-11 on the power play
Cleveland had 16 penalties for 49 minutes
Detroit had 12 penalties for 41 minutes
The regular season opens on Friday, October 1 when the Vipers host the Grand Rapids Griffins 7:30pm.