Collins Counts His Blessings:

This is posted on the Vipers website:

Collins counts his blessings

by Don Klepp Added 2010-06-04

Mike Collins has been a long way from home these past two years. He’s missed his family and friends back in Boston, but he’s definitely glad he landed in Vernon with the Vipers.

“It’s beautiful here,” he says, “I will surely miss this place and the people here. It’s just too bad that my family and my buddies didn’t see this area and watch the Vipers play. They’re happy I’m going to be back in the Boston area for the next few years, but these two years have been special.”

Talking about the two RBC titles, he says “I loved playing in those games. Those are the kinds of games you really want to be in, and I can’t put into words how much those two championships mean. It’s a whole year’s work that comes down to one game. The fact that we pulled it off two years in a row says a lot about the character of this team. You know, we gave up only one goal in those two final games.”

That’s quite a statement, coming from a natural scorer. It confirms the influence of coaches Ferner and Williamson, who have helped convert Mike from an offensive player to a very good two-way player.

Here’s what Mike says about that conversion: “Ferns lets us be creative as long as we stick to the systems and don’t turn the puck over in bad places. I’ve learned that it’s more profitable and easier to keep the puck out than to put it in. I’ve tried to work on my defensive game, getting back quicker, blocking shots, playing hard against the wall, that sort of thing.”

He has more to say about what he’s learned playing Viper hockey. “Ferns is always right. He says that if you win those races and battles early, it might not pay off right away, but it will eventually give you a result. That’s exactly what happened in the last two games. The first part of each game was tight, but we broke through against Brockville in the third and in the second against Dauphin.”

The proof of Mike’s defensive development was the regular penalty killing shifts he took this year, usually in tandem with Braden Pimm. The duo scored a critical short handed goal to open the scoring in the showdown game with Spruce Grove on April 25. Mike created a turnover and went coast to coast. His shot was stopped by Vincenzo Marozzi, but Pimm was there to stuff in the rebound.

Mike chuckles when he talks about playing on a line with Braden Pimm for the last two years. “You just have to let him be Pimmer. He’s loud and he has lots of fun, and he keeps us loose, but on the ice he’s one of the hardest working guys I’ve ever met. Good shot, good vision, a fine playmaker, I’ll tell you that playing with him has been unreal.”

How will he fare playing against Braden in the Hockey East conference next year? He admits, “I don’t know how that will go. Merrimac and Northeastern meet quite often. The first time we go head to head, I’m sure there will be quite a chirpfest. We’re both pretty competitive guys and we both want to win.”

On the other hand, Mike “can’t wait to get back to playing with Kyle Bigos,” who will be in his second year with Merrimac. “He’s getting pretty old, but he’s probably scarier than ever. Actually, there’ll be a bunch of us in that conference. There’s Sahir Gill and Ryan Santana at Boston U, Pimmer at Northeastern. We’ll probably come up against Ikky (Cole Ikkala) and the Joneses at some point, too.”

Mike Collins will hold his own. The natural sniper who scored so many beauties coming down “Collins Lane” put up impressive numbers with the Vipers: 70 goals (including 32 power play markers) and 96 assists in 173 career games. Those are pretty good numbers for a player who was working hard at his defensive skills!