Host Vipers looking to set fangs into RBC Cup again
By Steve Ewen, The Province
May 8, 2014
Vernon is vying for its seventh Junior A national championship. ‘We’ve met a lot of people around town who have experienced those teams and those winning times,’ says Vipers captain Ryan Renz.
The last time Vernon was home to the Junior A national hockey tournament, it was played in a different rink, the host squad had a different name and so did the Canadian championship itself.
The outcome? Fans there are aiming for that to be identical.
The five-team RBC Cup kicks off Saturday at Kal Tire Place, with the Vernon Vipers taking on the Carleton Place Canadians of Ottawa as part of opening-day action.
Vernon is looking for a seventh national championship. Their first came out of the host berth in 1990, when the team, then known as the Lakers, beat the New Westminster Royals 6-5 in overtime for the title, then known as the Centennial Cup, in the final in Civic Arena.
As an homage, Vernon will wear a special jersey for the tournament opener that has a Lakers patch on one shoulder and a Vipers patch on the other. Cam Sylven, who beat New Westminster netminder Cory Cadden in overtime 24 years ago, is slated to drop the puck for the ceremonial faceoff for the first Vipers game.
The Lakers became the Vipers in 1995-96, and Kal Tire Place came on line for the 2001-02 season.
“We’ve met a lot of people around town who have experienced those teams and those winning times,” said Vipers captain Ryan Renz, 20, a defenceman from Castlegar. “We want to bring those back.”
There’s an argument they won’t have momentum on their side. Vernon hasn’t played since April 15, the final night of a four-game sweep at the hands of the Coquitlam Express in the BCHL championship series.
Coquitlam’s season came to a close in the Western Canadian championship in Dauphin, Man., on Sunday.
The Dauphin Kings and Yorkton Terriers advanced from that event. The Toronto Lakeshore Patriots round out the national tournament.
The Vipers sent their players home for a week. They’ve been practising and preparing for nearly three weeks.
Jason Williamson, the team’s general manager and coach, turned to former Vernon bench boss Mark Ferner and Kelowna Rockets coach Ryan Huska for advice about how to handle the layoff.
“Those two know what we’ve got, know what we can do,” said Williamson, a former Vipers captain himself. “There was some thought of letting them go home longer, but we still had some momentum, still had done things to create a team bond.”
Vernon finished third in the Interior Conference in the regular season, their 30-18-4-6 record leaving them eight points in back of the front-running Penticton Vees.
They beat the Vees 4-3 in overtime in the seventh and deciding game of the Interior championship and then beat both Coquitlam and the Victoria Grizzlies in single games to advance past the league’s new quirky three-team league semifinal.
With the national host berth in mind, Williamson has put together an older team, including six players in their 20-year-old season, their final one of junior eligibility. There are another eight 19-year-olds.
Included in that graduating group are Renz and forward Colton Sparrow, Vernon’s leading scorer in these playoffs with 22 points, including eight goals, in 19 games. They’re both holdovers from 2011 Vernon team that lost 2-0 in the RBC final to Ontario’s Pembroke Lumber Kings in Camrose, Alta.
Another 20-year-old is forward Brett Mulcahy, who was part of the Surrey Eagles team that went to the RBC Cup last season in Summerside, P.E.I., and lost in the semifinals.
“Those guys have to wave the flag,” Williamson said of his veterans. “They have to be our guys.”
Renz added: “This is why this group has been put together. We have a lot of experience. When it comes down to the end, you want calmer minds and everyone pulling in the same direction.”
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