Fans Celebrate Big Win:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Fans celebrate big win

By Roger Knox - Vernon Morning Star

Published: May 12, 2009

So how big a fan of the Vernon Vipers is Brian DeBoice?
After being at Bear Mountain Arena in Victoria Sunday to watch the Vipers win their record fifth national Junior A Royal Bank Cup hockey championship, DeBoice caught a 9 p.m. ferry back to the mainland and drove through the night in order to be on hand for the Vipers’ homecoming Monday morning.
“We had a little rest but drove straight through and were in bed by 4:30,” smiled DeBoice, who managed to catch a few hours of shuteye before greeting the Vipers at city hall shortly after 11 a.m. DeBoice has been to four of the five national championship homecomings, missing only the 1991 party.
About 30 people were on hand at city hall, some waving their playoff towels, to watch captain Chris Crowell carry the Royal Bank Cup off the bus. Crowell and his teammates then gathered in front of city hall, where they were greeted and congratulated by Mayor Wayne Lippert and city council.
“You guys were such perfect gentlemen, sportsmen and great athletes,” said Lippert, who presented Crowell with a hastily-designed City of Vernon certificate, congratulating the Vipers’ franchise on the record fifth Canadian title.
The stop at city hall was arranged at the last minute, as the local radio stations were reporting the Vipers would be arriving at the Wesbild Centre around 11.
Vipers head coach and general manager Mark Ferner was amazed people got down to city hall to welcome the champions home.
“It just shows you how passionate these fans are, and the city is, about their hockey team and we’re pretty excited to be part of that, for sure,” said Ferner, before getting back on the bus to head over to the Wesbild Centre, where the homecoming resumed.
About 200 fans had gathered at the Vipers’ home rink to greet their heroes, including Jim and Sue Nightingale, one of the first couples to arrive at the arena.
Jim had the opportunity to talk to the Vipers on their bus when they arrived home from Grande Prairie, after winning the Doyle Cup, and there was no way he and Sue were going to miss greeting the national champions.
“They are absolutely a great bunch of young men,” said Jim.
Decked out in matching Vipers’ uniforms, Ann and Jim McGorman waited patiently for the team to arrive at Wesbild.
“We’re very proud of them, they represented us very well,” said Jim who, along with his wife, have been attending Vernon Vipers games since 1997.
“They were really dominant, winning their last 11 playoff games.”
Longtime Vernon junior hockey fan Colleen McMechan – she has been attending games since the team was known as the Esso in the 1960s and 70s – was finally able to attend a homecoming party.
“I’d been working shift work during the other four championships and couldn’t make it out, I always wanted to come to one,” she said.
Six-year seasons ticket holder Shirley Kachuk watched the final on TV Sunday and, like almost everybody in the crowd, was amazed at the Cup-clinching powerplay goal late in the third period by defenceman Kyle Bigos.
“I love that guy,” said Kachuk, who thought the Vipers ‘weren’t their usual selves’ through the first two periods of Sunday’s final.
“He looked like Bobby Orr. I’d hate to see him go, and it’s going to be sad that this team won’t be back together next year. It won’t be the same next year.”
Bigos said the national championship made an already closer-than-this team even tighter.
“It’s been surreal, everyone has been just so happy, so excited, on the trip home there’s been a lot of goofing around, lot of hanging out,” said Bigos, named the RBC Cup’s most valuable player and top defenceman. “We’re all going to savour this for the next couple of days.”
Fans will have one more chance to congratulate the 2009 RBC Cup champions.
There’s a party today, open to the public, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Wesbild Centre.