2010-2011 Schedule Now On Vipers Website!

The 2010-2010 Vernon Vipers Schedule is posted on the Vernon Vipers website! Make sure you book your schedule to take in all Vernon Vipers games!!

Sniper will be back soon with more player blogs and Viper updates! Enjoy your summer!!

Winning Isn't Everything...

It's OUR Thing!

Letter From The BCHL Commissioner

Dr. Duncan Wray

Owner and Governor
Vernon Vipers Hockey Club

Dr. Wray,

It is my pleasure to congratulate you and the Vernon Vipers Hockey Club on another tremendous season. Once again, the Vipers have proven to be an outstanding representative of the British Columbia Hockey League by winning the 2010 RBC Cup in addition to previous Fred Page and Doyle Cup victories. It is a tribute to your leadership as the team’s Owner and Governor that the Vipers have solidified their standing as the best run Junior ‘A’ hockey franchise in Canada.
I would also like to extend a well-deserved congratulation to Head Coach Mark Ferner, Assistant Coach Jason Williamson and the team’s coaching and scouting staffs for their work in building a back-to-back National Champion. It takes incredible ability, strength of will and a relentless desire for excellence to walk the path that the Vipers have in the past nine months. It is a credit to Mark and Jason that these qualities have been instilled so successfully in a remarkable group of young athletes.
I have no doubt that all of your graduating players will carry for the rest of their lives the experience of winning a championship together in Vernon. I wish each of them only the best in their future endeavors and congratulate those who have earned a university or college scholarship. I’m certain that their days as Vipers have helped prepare them for the success in hockey and in life that is sure to follow.
We both know that a successful organization is built in large part by those who receive the least amount of credit. I would like to thank your staff and volunteers for their tireless work throughout the season and playoffs. Having spent a great deal of time in the Wesbild Centre recently, I can speak firsthand to their dedication, professionalism, and love for their team. They have done the BCHL proud.
Finally, I would like to congratulate the Vipers’ fans for their extraordinary support of an extraordinary team. It is always gratifying to see a tremendous group of fans rewarded for their loyalty and passion, and nowhere have fans been rewarded more often than in Vernon.

Yours truly,
John Grisdale
BCHL Commissioner

Fans, city honour national champs

Roger Knox - Vernon Morning Star

Dropping the Vernon Vipers off at the Kelowna Airport prior to their departure for the Royal Bank Cup in Manitoba, team bus driver Mike Rogers made the team a vow.

Win a sixth national junior A hockey championship, and he would replace the number five on the side of the bus, fronting the message, “5 time National Champions,” with the number six.
Both promises were kept.
“They did and I did,” smiled Rogers Tuesday at Spirit Square at City Hall, after delivering the Vipers for a lunch-hour barbecue. On the side of the team bus, the number five was X-ed out, replaced with a six.
Close to 400 fans, friends, parents and well-wishers were on hand to greet the six-time Canadian champions at the barbecue hosted by the City of Vernon, who treated participants to free burgers, hot dogs and drinks.
Among the first to show up for the event were Pearl and Eric Pharo, both 81, season ticket holders since 2001. The pair watched Sunday’s championship game, won by the Vipers 8-1 over the host Dauphin Kings, twice on TSN2.
“The first time we tried to watch it was 1-0 Vernon, then they made us furious by going to a three-minute ad, and when the game was back on, all of a sudden it was 4-0 Vernon,” said Pearl. “We taped the game later and watched it again. We knew with Connor (Jones) coming back that Vernon was going to win. They have such great speed and skill on the ice. They skated rings around them (Kings).”
Speaking of Connor, Miranda Blatny, a Grade 6 student at Kidston Elementary, attended the barbecue with her mom, Cindy, decked out in her Connor Jones sweater.
“When we first moved to Vernon and watched the Vipers, Connor was wearing 10 and that’s my lucky number,” said the soft-spoken Blatny, who had her picture taken with her favourite Viper.
Mayor Wayne Lippert, decked out in his Vipers’ home white jersey, called the team true ambassadors of the city, and the North Okanagan region.
“You guys are six-time Canadian champions, and the only city to have won back-to-back Canadian championships twice,” said Lippert of Vernon’s accomplishments in 1990-91, and 2009-10.
Team owner Dr. Duncan Wray, celebrating his fourth Royal Bank Cup title, thanked the fans for coming out, and vowed to go after a seventh Canadian championship.
“We will have some challenges ahead of us, but we’re going to go for a three-peat,” said Wray, which drew a huge cheer.
Following the speeches, the players mingled with fans, signing autographs and posing for pictures.
Coldstream resident Myrna Hastie, a snowbird who catches the Vipers whenever she’s in Vernon, shared a few moments with defenceman Adam Thompson.
“I congratulated him on his defensive game, and that he should be proud of what they’ve done,” said Hastie. “They’re such beautiful young men. All of Vernon should be proud of them.”
For captain Kevin Kraus, this week will wrap up his three-year career with the Vipers. The California product will fondly remember his time in Vernon.
“The fans here are great, and they have been ever since I got here,” said Kraus. “My first year, we lost to Penticton in the second round, and that really hurt, but the fans stuck with us and they’ve been great at every game.”
Vernon native Rob Short said Tuesday’s turnout was just amazing.
“When you start playing junior hockey, you don’t know if you’ll ever have the chance to play for a national championship, let alone win two in a row,” said Short, one of four Vernon products on the team. “There was so much pressure on us this year as defending champions, and to win it again is so worth it for all of the guys on the team.”
Kim Robinson, mother of Vipers forward David, and daughter of legendary Vernon junior hockey figure, the late Vern Dye, was happy for her son as she took in the festivities.
“I’m very excited for him and I’m a very proud mom,” smiled Robinson, who followed the team in Manitoba on the radio and Internet. “I thought the Vipers were a much-better team than Dauphin and they showed it on Sunday.”

Vernon back to back Canadian champs

Watch CHBC News - RBC Highlight (click here)
CHBC News, Kelowna
An Okanagan junior hockey team are the best in the nation for the second year in a row.
The BCHL Vernon Vipers stole the show Sunday in Dauphin, Manitoba, winning the RBC Cup 8-1 over the hometown team.
While the Vipers scored only one goal in the first, they peppered Kings netminder Joe Caligiuri with 16 shots in the opening 20 minutes.
Vernon went on to make significant gains in the second period.
Dylan Walchuk, Kellen Jones and Cole Ikkala scored goals in a span of 48 seconds early in the second period, turning a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 advantage.
The Kings attempted to respond with their first goal in the second period on a power play, as Bryce Lamb ended Graeme Gordon’s bid for his second consecutive shutout.
But it was far from enough to stop Vernon, who would add three more points in the third to handily win the RBC Cup.
The defending championship Vernon Vipers took back to back national wins when they were the Vernon Lakers in 1990-91 as well.
The champions are set to arrive home at Vernon’s Wesbild Centre around 6pm on Monday.

A community celebration is set for City Hall on Tuesday @ 12 noon.
© Copyright (c) CW Media Inc.

Vernon wins second straight RBC Cup

Vancouver Sun

DAUPHIN, Man. — The Vernon Vipers blitzed the host Dauphin Kings for three goals in a 48-second span in the second period Sunday and went on to defend their RBC Cup title with an 8-1 victory in the final.
Dylan Walchuk, Kellen Jones and Cole Ikkala scored the flurry of quick goals, which gave the Vipers a 4-0 lead in front of a sold-out Credit Union Centre. The Pacific region representatives have now won a record six Canadian junior A hockey championships.
“It’s a great feeling,” Jones, the Vipers’ player of the game, told TSN after the game. “The team came out and played great today. I can’t say enough about the guys. This is a great feeling right now.”
Vernon also won back-to-back titles in 1990-91. Prince Albert is the only other team in RBC Cup history to win consecutive titles, accomplishing the feat in 1981-82.
The Vipers recruited players throughout the United States and it paid off Sunday with three Americans — Ikkala, Cory Kane and Garrett Noonan — lighting the lamp in the final.
Jones, from Montrose, B.C., said playing for the storied Vipers franchise means dealing with increased expectations, but credited coach Mark Ferner with preparing the team for the challenge of trying to defend the title.
“Our coach kind of really beat the memo into us to go out there and work hard every night,” Jones said. “That’s what we tried to do every night and that’s why we were so successful.”
Kane opened the scoring for Vernon in the first period, firing a shot past Dauphin netminder Joe Caligiuri from the top of the circle while skating down the right wing.
Walchuk extended the lead in the second, faking a pass on a two-on-one, then shooting it past Caligiuri. Jones scored 39 seconds later, blasting a shot from the high slot and then crashing the net to fire the rebound past Caligiuri. Nine seconds after that, Ikkala fooled Caligiuri with a shot off the rush.
Bryce Lamb, the Kings’ player of the game, put Dauphin on the board midway through the second, taking a centring pass from Ryan Dreger off his skate, kicking it to his stick and firing it past Vernon goaltender Graeme Gordon.
Patrick McGillis restored the four-goal advantage before the second period was out. Sahir Gill, Jones and
Noonan completed the scoring for Vernon in the third period.
Gordon finished with 23 saves, while Caligiuri blocked 28 shots.
The Kings went through the round robin undefeated — including an overtime win over the Vipers — but were unable to use home ice to their advantage in the final. They entered the game with a record of 43-2-1 at Credit Union Centre in 2009-10, including regular season, playoffs and RBC Cup.
The last Manitoba Junior Hockey League team to win the national title was the Selkirk Steelers in 1974.
The 2011 RBC Cup will be held in Camrose, Alta.


© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

Vipers repeat as RBC champs

Graeme Corbett - Vernon Morning Star

DAUPHIN, MAN. – Good, better, best. That was the natural progression of the Vernon Vipers' play at the Royal Bank Cup this week in Manitoba, culminating in an 8-1 drubbing of the host Dauphin Kings in the championship game Sunday afternoon at Credit Union Place.

The Vipers are the first team to repeat as national junior A hockey champions since the Vernon Lakers accomplished the feat in 1990 and '91.
"They should be proud of themselves, and the fans of Vernon should be very proud of these kids because it wasn't easy. They've had a target on their back all year and they just kept getting better and better as the year went on," said Vipers' head coach Mark Ferner, piloting his club to its second title in just three years behind the bench.
With the Kings having to grind out a win over the physical La Ronge Ice Wolves in the late semifinal Saturday night (Vernon stopped the Brockville Braves 2-0 in the afternoon semi), Ferner suspected there might be an opportunity to take advantage of a tired opponent.
"That's why we wanted to push the pace real early and just make sure we get a good jump in this hockey game. And our guys responded," he said.
The Vipers took advantage of a lethargic-looking Kings squad from the outset, controlling the play and keeping the Dauphin defenders on their heels with a blinding forecheck. Cory Kane, using a defenceman as a screen, pegged Vernon to a 1-0 lead with a quick blast from the the high slot at 14:28 of the first period.
Rookie Dylan Walchuck's winner at 6:28 of the second period marked the start of a three-goal spree over a 48-second span that the Kings never recovered from. A pair of carbon-copy goals just nine seconds apart by Vernon Game MVP Kellen Jones and Cole Ikkala had the Kings reeling, and the home crowd stunned.
Said Kings' captain Steven Shamanski: "They're a skilled team and they really put the pressure on us. They buried a couple quick ones on us and we just got behind the eight-ball and it was tough to come back against a skilled team like that."
Bryce Lamb pocketed the Kings' lone goal midway through the second period, but the Vipers fired four unanswered goals to seal the win before 2,260 fans.
Patrick McGillis, Sahir Gill, Jones and Garrett Noonan, with a rocket from the face-off circle, completed the Vernon assault.
Netminder Graeme Gordon recorded 23 saves for the win, his best when he slid cross-crease to deny sniper Shane Luke on an odd-man rush early in the second period.
"I can't wait to celebrate with the boys, it's been an unreal two seasons," said Gordon. "I gotta thank Ferns for bringing me here and I gotta thank Duncan (Wray, Vipers' owner) and the staff. Repeat champions, that's the best way to close it out, I don't know what more to say."
Joe Caligiuri faced 36 shots, but didn't get a lot of help as his team got caught pinching, turned over the puck a lot in the neutral zone and allowed countless odd-man rushes.
The Snakes fell 6-5 in overtime to the ANAVET Cup champion Kings to open the tournament more than a week ago, but their play and their confidence steadily progressed throughout the week.
"We got better as the tournament went on," said Ferner. "We didn't start the way we wanted to, but that's fine. We got ourselves in the semifinal game, and that last game against Brockville (Braves) in the round-robin we were good and we just built on that."
The loss was Dauphin's first in 21 home playoff games, and Vipers' captain Kevin Kraus was happy to be the one to deliver it.
"We came to this tournament and all we heard was Dauphin wanted a team that would challenge them, and we did that in both games," said the bearded veteran.
"We had some rough games in the beginning of the tournament, losing some leads, but we weren't going to let that happen with the championship on the line."
Dauphin head coach Marlin Murray accepted responsibility for choosing the late semifinal slot (round-robin winner gets to choose), as it may have been a factor in his team's inability to keep up with the speedy Vipers.
"If you need to point fingers, point fingers at me for making that decision. I will take full responsibility for it," said Murray.
Gracious in defeat, he added Vernon deserves full credit for the win.
"You gotta give the Vernon Vipers a ton of credit. They've got a helluva team, coached very well.
"It ended up a bit of wash, but earlier on we had chances to score… two real good opportunities by Shamanski and Shane Luke that we just didn't bury the puck."
Once the initial sting is gone, Murray says his club will have a lot to be proud of.
"Overall a real successful season. I'm really proud of the guys, it's been one of my best seasons to be part of a hockey club, playing or coaching."