Hi, my name is Garrett Noonan this is my first year with the Vernon Vipers. I am From Norfolk, Massachusetts about thirty minutes outside of Boston. I have really enjoyed my time in Vernon thus far. Over the next few days on the teams five day, four game coastal road trip, you will be hearing from myself as well as my two roommates Adam Thompson and Cole Ikkala. Also I would like to congratulate my awesome defensive partner Adam Thompson as he recently committed to the prestigious Yale University about 3 hours outside of Boston in New Haven, Connecticut. Although, I would like to take some credit for his commitment to Yale, I was informed that he was offered there before we were partners. Believe it or not.Day 1: Let the fun begin….
The road trip began early Tuesday morning as we left the Wesbild at 7 am. I was told by teammates that the trip would take around ten hours. Last years Royal Bank Cup championship team, had to make the painful trip to Powell River a handful of times as they faced off in the BCHL championship, otherwise known as the Fred Page Cup. As most of the team slept for the first half of the trip, I tried to stay awake and take in some of the scenery, unfortunately that didn’t work out so well as I passed out around 8am. I awoke around 10am to see our bus caught in a pretty bad snow storm on the “Coca Cola” highway as Cole Ikkala would call it. This didn’t faze (yes this is the correct spelling) our bus driver, who easily passed through the storm, no problem. I was excited to see Vancouver because I had never seen it before. At around noon everyone was awake and I got my wish as we passed by goalie Graeme Gordon’s old stomping grounds in Vancouver. It looked like a pretty cool city (No Boston) but not every city can be as nice as Boston. Around 1pm we arrived at the dock where we would bored the first of two ferries. We got there ahead of schedule and found out that the boat would not arrive until 2:30. To kill some time and get some fresh air the team took out the volleyball and played a handful of games of clap ball before we finally boarded the ferry. The rookies had to take place in a rookie scavenger hunt, as captain Kevin Kraus handed out lists of things to find on the boat. The two teams were divided into the self proclaimed prairie dogs, of Drew George, Patrick Mcgillis, Darren Robak and Blake Voth. As I captained the team of Nils-Erik Soderlund and Dylan Walchuk. As the prairie dogs got on the boat and decided to eat lunch, my team got right to it and the hard work paid off as we won. After that the first ferry was done. We all got back on the bus and drove another hour and a half to get on the next ferry. To kill some time we threw in the movie step brothers, and the movie made the bus get to the dock in no time. When we got there at around 3:30 we found out the next ferry wasn’t until 4:30. So like before clap ball ensued, and Drew George although never winning always was giving 110%. At around five we got on the boat and the trip was pretty short. We all got back on the bus and took the hour ride to beautiful Powell River. At around seven we checked in quickly only to get back on the bus to go eat. We went to Kane’s Restaurant (no relation to Cory Kane) and the food was good. After that we all went back to the hotel and got some rest.
Check back for more with Garrett Noonan while the Vernon Vipers are on the road!!
