Vipers Hit The Ice To Fight Cancer:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Vipers hit the ice to fight cancer

By Brent Mutis - Vernon Morning Star

Published: October 20, 2009

Scoring goals has been rather easy for the Vernon Vipers lately. That’s good news for the Canadian Cancer Society, but bad news for the Merritt Centennials.
The Vipers, who have been racking up lottery-like numbers during a 14-1 B.C. Hockey League run, host the Cents at the Paint the Rink Pink event tonight (Wednesday, Oct. 21) at 7 p.m. at Wesbild Centre.
The Snakes, who average five goals a game, will wear a new jersey design to raise funds for cancer research. It’s a black jersey, with the standard Viper logo, along with pink trim on the sides and sleeves reminiscent of a pink cancer ribbon.
Fans will be allowed to make bids on the jerseys in a silent auction ending at 9 p.m.
Kiss FM has pledged $100 per Viper goal, while the Vipers players and staff will shell out $2 a goal, for a total of $60 a goal.
Vernon and the Westside Warriors are the only BCHL teams doing the pink jersey cancer fundraisers. Marketing manager Heidi Schrader asked SP Apparel to come up with a design for the jerseys and immediately liked the look.
“They did one for Westside and we wanted something similar but different,” said Schrader. “They came up with a design that was bang on and we tweaked it a bit.”
Schrader says she didn’t hesitate to get on board when the Canadian Cancer Society came calling.
“I jumped on the chance; I’ve always wanted to do something like this. We really wanted to support a charity for a disease that everyone has been affected by.”
Westside had their pink jersey night Oct. 16 and raised approximately $12,000. Schrader hopes to top that tonight.
“The goal is to beat Westside. It’s a fun, competitive thing to do. It’s a big goal but with the jersey auction, it’s definitely doable. We’ve just got to lean on the fans a little bit.
Team captain Kevin Kraus shares Schrader’s enthusiasm for the event.
“It’s for a great cause and it’ll be fun. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
First Choice Haircutters, sponsor of the limited edition jerseys, will cut hair by donation.
The way the Snakes have been filling the net of late, it could make a serious dent in the players’ wallets.
That’s OK with Kraus.
“If we do (score a lot of goals), it’s going to a great cause so that’s fine.”