RBC CUP 2014 The Excitement Returns!
A publication of the Vernon RBC Cup Host Committee
January 20th 2014 Volume 3, Issue 1
This Is Your RBC Cup Team
It's a veteran team, with six 20-year-olds, eight 19-year-olds, and five 18-year-olds. Twelve of the players have secured NCAA scholarships, with more on the way. Four of the players (Mulcahy, Hannoun, Renz, and Sparrow) have played in an RBC Cup and two others (McNicholas and Bryan) participated in last year's Western Canada Cup.
The team has size, speed, scoring talent, and solid goaltending. What's not to like?
And yet the Vipers have been inconsistent at times, within games and from game to game. The good news here is that the players and coaches are well aware of this tendency and are working hard to become a more consistent group that reflects their talent and experience.
The following series of short biographies brings out the players' views of their respective roles in coming together to form an exciting, winning team. Along the way, we'll learn a little more about their personalities.
# 11 – California Class
Michael McNicholas is part of a pipeline of southern California players who combine superb skills with a real feel for the game. Michael's not sure if the trend can be attributed to Wayne Gretzky's influence, but "guys like Beau Bennett and Darren Nowick are like that." Like Gretzky, Michael reads the play really well. He has a sixth sense of where the play is headed. That ability has helped him become one of the league's top scorers. He attributes a lot of that success to his wingers, Dexter Dancs, Demico Hannoun, and Liam Coughlin: "Dexter and I tend to see the same things, and we look for each other in the slot." Michael is impressed with his wingers: "Dexter really holds the puck well, Demico has tremendous moves, and Liam can really dangle and hit. I've been lucky to be on a line with them." He adds, "whether it's Demico or Liam on the right side, our line works best when we control puck possession, which we were doing before Christmas. Since the break, we haven't done that as much, and our production has suffered. But we'll re-group and come back strong for the rest of the year."
# 12 – Dancer With Bruised Knuckles
No matter what else Taylor (TJ) Dumonceaux does this year, he'll be remembered for his one-punch accidental K.O. of linesman Ryan Dawson. The incident was totally out of character for TJ, who plays hard, but is not known as a fighter. The 175-pound speedster scored 18 goals and 32 assists two years ago for the Kelowna Chiefs Jr. B team and showed flashes of offensive brilliance last year as a Viper. This year, however, he says that "We have a lot of firepower so I'm concentrating on defence, using a hard forecheck to disrupt the other team's breakouts." He also has been a stellar penalty killer. He says the secret is to put lots of pressure on the puck carrier, "keeping them down in their zone as long as possible." TJ is a fierce body checker – "I try to put all my weight into the checks," he says. A dynamic skater, he's one of the fastest Vipers. Is TJ the fastest? He ducks that question, saying that "we have a really fast team overall."
# 14 – Diamond In The Rough
Mason Blacklock bounced around the league before becoming the Vipers' go-to guy a year ago. His previous coaches such as Harvey Smyl, Mike Vandekamp, and Matt Erhart all recognized his potential but couldn't find a role that would release that potential. Then he came here to replace Adam Tambellini and made the most of his new role. This fall Mason came to camp with a confident mindset and was among the BCHL's leading scorers. Then an injury sidelined him for 16 games and when he was just starting to regain his form, he was injured again. He's philosophical about the bad luck: "Injuries happen in hockey. The key is to deal with it and work hard." That work ethic is a big part of Mason's recent success. He describes himself the way a scout would see the 6' 2" 200-pounder from White Rock: "I'm a big guy who can skate and shoot the puck pretty well. I like to compete in the offensive and D-zones, trying to be an all-round centre." That package has sufficiently impressed scouts to rank him 158th on Central Scouting's list of North American skaters. He says that "It's an honour to be on that list. I didn't expect it. I'm happy about it, but I'm not satisfied. I want to keep getting better and improve on that ranking." Similarly, he says that he and his team mates aren't satisfied with their automatic entry in the RBC Cup. "We have the talent and togetherness to make a long run. We just have to buy in to what our coaches say and put it all together."
# 15 – Captain Serious
Brett Mulcahy is dubbed "Captain Serious" by former and present team mate Colton Sparrow. (The two were linemates as 15-year-old rookies with the Okanagan Rockets Midget team.) Colton says that he does know how to crack up his 20-year-old friend, but Brett was all business when interviewed for this bio. Brett, who hails from Kelowna, played his rookie Jr. season with West Kelowna before being traded to Surrey, where he was the Eagles' captain this year and last year. He's happy to be back in the Okanagan especially because he's playing with several previous team mates – Ryan Renz, Danny Todosychuk, TJ Dumonceaux, Brendan Persley, Colton Sparrow, and the Surrey duo of Hannoun and Blacklock. As an experienced captain and RBC Cup vet, he expects to quietly add to the Vipers' leadership core, but he cautions that "last year I learned that even though some guys are wearing a letter, it has to be a collective group effort. The more leaders you have, the better." As a player at the RBC Cup, he learned that "success at that level of intensity depends on consistency. You
can have shades of great play, but you have to follow it up with 60 minutes of effort. Every shift, each fiveman unit has to do something to benefit the team or at least avoid doing something to hurt the team. Every team at the RBC is exceptional, so you have to take advantage of any breakdowns. This tournament is different than a five or seven-game series; at the RBC it could all boil down to one game, so you have to be mentally prepared."
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