BCHL Contenders Making Moves:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

BCHL contenders making moves

Published: December 04, 2010

Another year, another Fred Page Cup final loss to the Vernon Vipers. This time the end came at the Wesbild Centre.

Kent Lewis put his hands to his face, in an empty dressing room next to his players, sighed and wondered aloud if his Powell River Kings would ever win the B.C. Hockey League playoff title.

“Ya know Mitch, maybe it’s just not meant to be for us. Just between you and me, this is my last year. I’ve got boys in baseball and I’m missing the draft of players tonight.”

Well, just between me and the rest of the BCHL, Lewis is back as head coach with the Sunshine Coast crew. He looked at his roster and saw clutch returnees like Chad Niddery, Matt Garbowsky, Andrew Pettitt, Brenden Forbes and Justin Dasilva and saw a chance for redemption.

I covered Lewis when he played for the WHL Victoria Cougars and the BCJHL Nanaimo Clippers. He was known as ‘Hammer’ for his hard-nosed play and extra large head. Like Viper head coach Mark Ferner, he demands and gets the extra mile from his players, and strives for excellence.

The Vipers, who are a talented bunch still trying to find their identity, are not in business to ice average teams. Their owner, Duncan Wray, doesn’t bless a budget close to $600,000 a year for the team to go one round in the playoffs.

When the Vipers traded for Quesnel Millionaires’ net detective Kirby Halcrow the other day, we joked in the newsroom that sports writer Graeme Corbett better start searching for a bed and breakfast in Camrose, site of the 2011 Royal Bank Cup.

Halcrow has had some of his career-best games against the Vipers, and loves playing at Wesbild Centre, where fans standing behind his crease used to heckle him big-time. He has the talent to steal games and will push returnee Blake Voth to improve as well.

Powell River, ranked No. 2 in the nation behind the Spruce Grove Saints of Alberta, matched the Vipers’ move by acquiring 20-year-old Justin Bardarson from the SJHL’s Melfort Mustangs for future considerations.

The native of Burns Lake, B.C. had seven points in 18 games with the Mustangs. Bardarson was the captain of the now defunct Williams Lake Timberwolves last season, racking up 42 points including 14 goals.

“As a 20 year-old we felt he will bring valuable experience to our hockey club and provide us with depth up front,” stated Powell River associate coach Chad van Diemen. “Having coached Justin in Chase (KIJHL), he is a character guy who adds some grit to our lineup. He has proven he can put up some offensive numbers in our league and it says a lot about him that he was the captain of Williams Lake as a rookie in the BCHL last season.”

The Salmon Arm SilverBacks, also realizing there is no clear favourite in the BCHL this year, dealt Clayton Petrie (92)(F), Justin Krabben (91)(D) and future considerations to the AJHL Calgary Canucks in exchange for the playing rights of Kevin Mills (90)(D). Adding a 20-year-old d-man is always a wise choice and the SilverBacks are already very strong on the back end.

The Westside Warriors also believe they are contenders. They went out and grabbed 20-year-old centre Tyler French from the Millionaires. His younger brother Max plays for the Warriors.

And the Trail Smoke Eaters, boasting one of their finest lineups in recent memory, finally convinced ultra-talented forward Ryan Aynsley to leave the junior B Castlegar Rebels and move up the road to Trail. The Kelowna product put up nine points in his first four games with the Smokies.

Spruce Grove, knocked out by Vernon in last year’s Doyle Cup regional series, are making another serious bid for the RBC. Their top scorer is former Viper Brett Switzer, who was part of a deal which netted the Vipers forward Bryce Kakoske two years ago.

The Saints, who have just two losses, also have returning goalie Vincenzo Marozzi.

In Grande Prairie, former Viper coach Mike Vandekamp’s Storm are in the middle of the pack led by top scorer Dan Correale. Dan’s younger brother Gus, who started the year here, compiled 10 points in a dozen games up north.

Just for the record, the worst team in the Canadian Junior A Hockey League is the Dixie BeeHive of Ontario. They have one victory.

Meanwhile, the weather co-operated, the home team won and it was standing room only at Canada’s first junior hockey game played outdoors last Friday.

The host Fort McMurray Oil Barons downed the Drayton Valley Thunder 4-2 on a rink constructed on a soccer pitch near downtown.

The Northern Classic broke the previous Alberta Junior Hockey League’s attendance record of 4,400, drawing 5,726.

According to the AJHL website, there was no wind or snow and the frigid temperatures that had gripped northern Alberta earlier in the week loosened in time for the game.

It was about 10 C when the puck dropped. That was chilly enough as lines became longer and longer at heated concession tents, where supplies of hot chocolate ran low.

The game had a festival feel as live bands performed, children wrestled in the snow and spectators did the wave to keep warm.