Hadley Lone Viper Selected For Prospect Game In Dauphin:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Hadley lone Viper selected for Prospect Game in Dauphin

Published: December 02, 2010

Vipers look to cool red-hot Warriors tonight at Wesbild

When Vipers’ head coach Mark Ferner told Aaron Hadley he was headed to Dauphin, Man., he thought he had just been traded.

The Castlegar native soon realized it was quite the opposite, that he was heading east to play in the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s Prospects Event (two-game total goals starting Tuesday at Dauphin’s gorgeous Credit Union Place.

“Any time you get to go to these tournaments and show off your skills it’s a good opportunity,” said Hadley, fourth in Viper scoring with 8-11-19 in 29 games.

“I’m looking forward to showing what I can do.”

The 17-year-old will join seven other B.C. Hockey League players, and some of the top Junior A draft-eligible players in Canada, on the Team West roster – forwards Sam Mellor and Joey Baker (Trail Smoke Eaters), Mitchell Deacon and Destry Straight (Coquitlam Express) and Madison Dias (Victoria Grizzlies), and defencemen Michael King (Westside Warriors) and Eric Walker (Trail).

While it will be all business on the ice, Hadley is looking forward to catching up with a few buddies he grew up with in the Kootenays.

“Joey and I have been friends for a long time, and Eric lives five minutes away from me in Castlegar, so we’ve been best friends since we were little,” grinned Hadley. “It will be good to get together with them and get away for a bit.”

Meanwhile, the Vipers will battle the red-hot Warriors in a home-and-home series this weekend, starting tonight at Wesbild Centre.

The Snakes (15-8-1-6) visit the Warriors (17-10-1-2) Saturday night at Royal LePage Place and will end the weekend with a Sunday matinee against the Surrey Eagles (17-11-1-1) at Wesbild.

Vernon, 4-3-0-3 in their last 10 games, will look to stifle Westside’s Interior-leading offence (4.10 goals per game average) with the top conference defence (2.60 goals against). The two teams are tied for fourth in the Interior.

“It’s a good opportunity for our team. The standings are really close right now so we need every win we can get this weekend,” said Hadley.

The Warriors, 7-2-0-1 in their last 10 games, played a couple mid-week games already, falling 5-4 to the Grizzlies Tuesday night at home before stuffing the Penticton Vees 6-4 Wednesday at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Veterans Grayson Downing and Alex Grieve led the Warriors with two goals each. Joey Laleggia paced the second-place Vees (20-10-0-1) with a goals and two helpers.