Vipers Poised For National Title Defence:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Vipers poised for national title defence

By Graeme Corbett - Vernon Morning Star

Published: September 03, 2009

The Vernon Vipers are one cut away from the 23-man roster that will be charged with defending their Royal Bank Cup national junior A hockey title.
Following a pair of B.C. Hockey League exhibition play wins over the Westside Warriors, the Vipers trimmed their list to 24 Thursday morning. The Snakes stuffed the Warriors 6-3 Tuesday night at Wesbild Centre, and 4-3 Wednesday night at Royal LePage Place.
With such a talented core of returning players, there were some definite no-brainers for Vipers’ GM/head coach Mark Ferner. As always, it was the final cuts that proved the most difficult.
The Snakes are currently carrying 14 forwards, eight defencemen and two goalies. They have until Sept. 11, when they open the BCHL regular season against the Salmon Arm SilverBacks at Wesbild, to decide on the final roster.
Forwards: Mike Collins, Dylan Walchuk, Cory Kane, Sawyer Mick, Cole Ikkala, Braden Pimm, Bryce Kakoske, Brendan Persley, Drew George, Pat McGillis, Connor Jones, Kellen Jones, Jonathan Milhouse, Rob Short.
Defencemen: Kevin Kraus, Adam Thompson, Garrett Noonan, Steve Weinstein, Nick Amies, Dan Nycholat, Darrin Robak, Eric Soderlund.
Goaltenders: Graeme Gordon is primed for the starting role, while Blake Voth will assume backup duties.
“We were fortunate to win last year, and when you win when you’re pretty young you’re going to get lots of guys back,” said Ferner. “We feel like our core group is coming back as far as forwards are concerned. We know that we lost a lot on the back end with our veterans there, but there are some players that have come in and made impressions.”
Ferner says the additions of Dan Nycholat and Garrett Noonan have helped shore up the blueline. Overall, he thinks the Vipers are well equipped to make another title run.
“Are we that far off? I don’t think so, but only time will tell.
“One thing with that hockey team last year, they certainly like each other, they like being around each other, and the effort right from day one was second to none.
we’re on the right track. We have a lot of guys returning who know the expectations.
“We like our start, but realistically we don’t have to pick our team until Jan. 10.”
Braden Pimm fired a pair of goals, including the winner, in the Vipers’ Wednesday night win. Vernon led 4-1 after 40 minutes and needed a solid effort from Gordon to shut down Westside in the third period.
Warriors’ netminder Chris Kingdon, a Vernon product, recorded 26 saves in the loss. He is vying for the backup role behind returning starter Kevin Jebson.
On Tuesday, the Vipers got third-period goals from Jesse Halikas, Conner Jones, Drew George and Dylan Walchuk to brush back Westside.
Walchuk was a standout for Vernon during camp and seems to have settled in nicely with the Snakes.
“Coming into camp it’s a bit of pressure, but it makes me want to work harder and show ‘em who I am. It gives me that motivation to work harder and be that player I think I am.
“We’re definitely getting some chemistry out there, learning how each other plays and where to go.
Kevin Kraus, who played his first exhibition Tuesday, sees a lot of potential with the new recruits.
“They’re doing an unbelievable job right now. The last three games we’ve played a lot of them and they’ve just been fitting in nicely.
“There’s not even a guy at camp right now that we could choose that’s not doing well right now. From top to bottom, they’re playing unreal.”
The Garden Grove, Calif. product knows how much work it takes to hunt down a national championship. He also knows the Vipers have to prove themselves all over again.
“That was last year. It’s a totally different team this year, every team in the league is different.
“We’ve just got to come in and have the same attitude that we had last year. We’re going to beat everyone, everyone is against us, and we’re just going to go out there and fight.”
“A couple guys like myself were a little rusty like myself. It was my first game of the preseason and I think everyone’s just getting the jitters out.
“But I think we’re gelling as a team, we’ve got good forwards and d-men, the goalies look good, we’re putting the puck in the net.”
“There’s no question we’re going to compete with the best of them.”
Darren Yopyk
“I thought the guys battled hard, but they were scrambling a bit. They’ve only had two practices, so guys are still figuring out what we’re doing.”
“We had a lot of young guys out there
35 players, five games in six nights
10 returning players
“This conference is a real skilled conference.
“I like our nucleus, and I like some of the young guys who are coming up as well.”
“I’m looking for another evaluation, for some of the guys to get the rust out a bit, I’m looking for guys to compete hard. We’ve got a lot of stuff to work on, and it was more scrambly than I’d like it to be, but our goal here is to get better every day.”
Krause
“Our team was working hard, we just fell short in the third.”
three veterans in the lineup
“We’ve just got to keep working, and as soon as we learn to play the style of the league we’ll be doing better.”
“For a lot of them it was their first game playing at the junior level. They did well, they got the puck deep, battled hard, but there’s some things to learn definitely.”
“We’ve got a great core, a lot of good guys coming back from last year. As long as we get the team going off to a good start, we’ll be great.”
four exhibition games in five nights
35 guys
Warriors camp started a week ago.
“There’s a lot of new faces in the dressing room and no one really knows who anyone is, so you’ve got to make sure you’re communicating out there on the ice.”