Vipers continue Winning Ways With Another Fred Page Cup Title:

Vipers continue winning ways with another Fred Page Cup title

Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - Submitted by Chad Klassen

The Vernon Vipers are British Columbia Hockey League champions for a second straight year and are continuing down a dynastic path with back-to-back Fred Page Cup titles and 11 all-time.

"It’s an amazing place to play," says Vipers' veteran goaltender Graeme Gordon, who’s been part of both championship wins. "The fans in Vernon really expect a lot and the players feel that every time they come to the rink. All the guys want to win. There’s just a tradition of excellence here and it’s a winning culture that’s passed down from the veterans to the younger guys."

In Game 7, their dynamic top line provided the heroics to give the league’s top team another taste of victory. With the game tied 1-1 and 3,008 fans facing the prospect of overtime, Sahir Gill scored arguably the biggest goal of his hockey career and the building erupted as Vernon forged ahead by a goal.

Linemates Connor and Kellen Jones were involved on the game-winning tally and again led the offensive charge for their team, combining for five assists on the evening to propel the Vipers into the Doyle Cup.

“That line’s been very good for us,” Vipers head coach Mark Ferner says. “People questioned me bringing Sahir Gill back after he went to Chicago. I was happy for him that he came back and scored the game-winner in Game 7. He’s a great kid and a great player and we welcomed him back with open arms. When we put him back with the Jones’ twins, they caught fire.”

Yet at the beginning of the year, Gill’s hockey future in Vernon looked all but over. After winning the RBC Cup with the Vipers, the soon-to-be 18-year-old packed his bags for an opportunity to play for the Chicago Steel of the United State Hockey League, where he recorded eight goals and 18 assists in 26 games played. The Terrace native returned to the team on January 15th and contributed an assist in his first game back in the line-up; Gill has nine goals and 18 helpers in 36 total games with Vernon.

But his biggest came in a tight Game 7 on Monday at the Wesbild Centre to close out a classic Fred Page Cup Finals.

“Scoring a goal like that, you can’t ask for a better script,” says Gill. “It was unbelievable. You talk about having home-ice advantage in Game 7, it’s huge. It was a big factor last night; they were loud and represented us well and we were able to bring the Cup home for them.”

Ferner agrees: “I don’t think you could ask for anything more in a Game 7. It came down to the final buzzer. It was a great hockey game and it could have gone either way.”

While the game was tight until the end and presented plenty of nervous moments, the mood on the Vipers’ bench was one of confidence and their character and desire to advance shone bright in the final minutes.

“Our guys responded in a very positive way. It’s either win and move on or lose and go home. Our guys weren’t ready to go home yet,” notes their coach.

Neither was Gordon, Vernon’s standout goaltender who made 26 stops including a stellar save late in the game to win his second BCHL championship trophy.

“I was telling myself ‘make the big save and give the boys a chance to win it,’” he says. “It feels amazing. There aren't a lot of words you can say. It’s a really special feeling and doing it twice hasn’t been accomplished a lot. Not many teams have repeated as BCHL champions.”

It is the first time since the Surrey Eagles won back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998 and the third time that the Vernon franchise has repeated. The Vernon Lakers accomplished the feat twice during their time in the league and captured four championships in five seasons, winning the trophy in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1992.

For any defending champion, climbing back to the top of the mountain and repeating the next season is one of the hardest things to achieve in sport. For this Vipers team, they finished one of the most prolific regular seasons in the BCHL with only six regulation losses and battled through tight checking every night to win it again.

“You come back from a National Championship and right from day one we had a target on our back,” says Ferner. “Not very often this year did we play a team that wasn’t at their best and the [51-6-0-3] record during the regular season is just a tremendous compliment to our group. It hasn’t been easy.”

Looking ahead to the 2010 Doyle Cup -- a championship series between the BCHL champion and Alberta Junior Hockey League winner -- Ferner says that Vernon will be facing an excellent team and last year’s four-game sweep over Grand Prairie doesn't mean a whole lot besides the experience factor.

“Experience is something you can’t teach,” he says. “That’s the one advantage that we have on everybody since we won it all last year. We know what it takes, we’ve been there and you can’t teach it -- unless the players actually go through the battles and have been there and had success. They say you don’t learn how to win until you lose, but being fortunate to bring back a lot of those guys from the RBC Cup win is invaluable.”

With Vernon starting on the road in 2010, earning a road split in Alberta could give the team the upper-hand returning home for the remainder of the series.

“I think it is important,” says Ferner. “Even though we have home-ice advantage, per se, you don’t get to start at home. And not being familiar with the other team might give us a little bit of an advantage just for the fact that nobody knows what to expect and we can just go out and play. Maybe we can get a jump on one of these teams.”

The Vipers set out to defend their title in September and have reaped the rewards of a great season with another Fred Page Cup trophy to add to their mantle. But it’s only the beginning of the journey back to the National Championship for the BCHL’s best.

“We’re far from done. There are still things we want to accomplish this year and what we’ve done so far is just another step,” Ferner says.