Former Vipers Head Coach-GM Leads Storm To 4th Place Finish:

Former Vernon Vipers head coach and general manager, Mike Vandekamp and the AJHL Grande Prairie Storm have clinched 4th place in the North Division. Grande Prairie wraps up its regular season schedule Friday and Saturday (7:30 p.m.) with games against the St. Albert Steel. Vandekamp was head coach and general manager of the Vipers from (2001-05).

This is posted on the Storm website:

STORM CLINCH FOURTH PLACE

Wed, Feb 16 2011

That was close!

With just two games remaining in the Alberta Junior Hockey League regular season the Grande Prairie Storm have clinched fourth place and will be hosting the first two games of a North Division best-of-five quarterfinal.

Who the Storm will be playing has yet to be determined.

Grande Prairie wraps up its regular season schedule Friday and Saturday (7:30 p.m.) with games against the St. Albert Steel in the Canada Games Arena.

The Storm, heading into the weekend, have 68 points and a four-point lead on the Lloydminster Bobcats and eight on the Sherwood Park Crusaders.

The Bobcats, if they win their remaining two games and the Storm lose both to St. Albert, could catch the Storm in points, but the No. 2 tiebreaker would give Grande Prairie the nod.

First tiebreaker is regulation wins.

Right now the Bobcats have 22 and the Storm 24. They could end up tied with 24, but the Storm own the second tiebreaker, which is regulation wins head to head. The Storm have defeated the Bobcats four of six times in regulation time this year.

Lloydminster needs another win, or Sherwood Park loss, to clinch fifth place and a date with the Storm in the first round of playoffs.

The Bobcats lead the Crusaders by four points and Sherwood Park has three games remaining – tonight in Drayton Valley against the Thunder, Saturday at home against the Spruce Grove Saints and Sunday at home against the Bonnyville Pontiacs. The Bobcats finish up with a game at home against the Olds Grizzlys on Saturday and Monday in St. Albert.

Friday, Feb. 25 and Saturday, Feb. 26 have been booked as the opening dates for the first round of the playoffs in Grande Prairie and will likely be made official by the league on the weekend.

Tickets for the weekend games as well as playoff paks are available at the Crystal Centre Box Office on 99 Ave. and 100 St. or by calling the Box Office at 780-538-0387.