Nation’s Best Collide In Doyle Cup:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Nation’s best collide in Doyle Cup

By Graeme Corbett - Vernon Morning Star

Published: April 15, 2010

The Vernon Vipers know about as much about the Spruce Grove Saints as they did the Grande Prairie Storm heading into last year’s Doyle Cup Championship. In other words, not a lot.

Unsure of who the Alberta Junior Hockey League champions would be, the Snakes hopped on the team bus Wednesday, just in case they had to cruise right on through Edmonton to face the Fort McMurray Oil Barons. A 6-0 blowout by the Saints in Game 7 of the Enerflex Cup Championship Tuesday night saved them another eight hours on the road.

Vernon head coach Mark Ferner caught a flight the morning after the Vipers secured the B.C. Hockey League Fred Cup Championship to watch Game 7 of the Alberta final.

“It was so packed I couldn’t see the other net. It was absolutely jammed to the rafters,” said Ferner, of being amongst the 1,650 fans at Grant Fuhr Arena.

“They’re a good hockey team, but Fort Mac wasn’t able to generate any offence whatsoever,” said Ferner, noting the Saints scored on their first shift of the game. “It didn’t look like they had a lot left.”

Aside from seeing how the Saints ran their special teams, Ferner says it’s not really possible to pick up on a team’s tendencies by scouting a single game.

“We don’t know what Fort Mac was about either, so we don’t really have anything to compare it to. It’s the unknown that we’re going into,” said the third-year bench boss. “They’re big, they work hard and they’re disciplined. They’re ranked No. 1 (in Canada) for a reason.

“They don’t have a lot of holes in their lineup. When you get down to this type of situation, both teams will be going into it with lots of confidence.”

Added Viper forward Mike Collins: “I don’t know a thing about them. First game is where you find out who they are. It’s a seven-game series for a reason, but we would like to make a lasting impression in the first game.”

Collins is one of 13 Royal Bank Cup returnees with the Vipers, and he says that experience will be invaluable.

“We’ve all been here so we know what we have to bring to the table and hopefully they (rookies) fall in behind us and everything works out.”

Brett Switzer is the only Saint with direct ties to the Vipers. He was traded last season in a three-way deal that brought forward Bryce Kakoske to the Viper den. Switzer’s post-season lasted just three games as he broke his wrist in a collision and required surgery.

Kakoske is stoked to be going back to the Doyle, especially after taking the Powell River Kings to seven games in a hard-fought BCHL final.

“I played in one Game 7, but not for a league championship. It was a pretty special event. The fans were awesome all night,” said Kakoske, a Vernon product. “It’s unbelievable to do it two years in a row, it’s pretty special. We have a lot of returning guys and a lot of new guys so it was nice to do it with a bunch of new guys too.”

Spruce Grove head coach Steve Hamilton is in his fourth year guiding the Saints. He is the son of former WHA/NHL Edmonton Oiler defenceman Al Hamilton, who was the franchise’s first-ever captain, and the first-ever Oiler to have his jersey (#3) retired.

In his college days with the Northern Michigan Wildcats, Steve, 36, played with Vernon Laker grads Tony Szabo and Dallas Drake (Winnipeg Jets, Phoenix Coyotes, St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings).

The way Hamilton describes the Saints, they sound an awful lot like the Vipers.

“We’ve had a pretty deep team all year,” he said. We’ve got four good lines and we’ve had the ability to weather the (playoff) storm.

“We’ve been building. We had a plan in place when I took over and we’ve made growth every year... and we felt that we are in a better position to win this year.”

Perhaps the main difference between the two clubs lies in net. While the Vipers have ridden the superb play of Graeme Gordon for most of the playoffs, the Saints have split their goaltending duties down the middle, with Vincenzo Marozzi and Travis Rollheiser playing eight playoff games apiece.

“We’ve literally rotated all year,” said Hamilton. “It is a very unique tandem to have two keepers that understand the situation. They both put the team ahead of their own stats.”

SNAKE BITES: The Doyle Cup was donated by Penticton businessman Pete Doyle and his family in 1985, and the BCHL has won 16 of 25 championships since it was introduced. The Vipers have won the most titles with six, while the AJHL Camrose Kodiaks have captured four... the Vipers won the only other Doyle Cup matchup between the two franchises in 1996, when the Saints were still located in St. Albert. Fernando Pisani of Oilers was on that ‘96 Saints team, with the series going a full seven games... This is the Saints’ fifth appearance in the Doyle, recording back-to-back titles over the BCHL Penticton Knights in 1981 and 1982. This will be the Vipers’ 10th trip to the Doyle Cup.