Cook Keeps RBC Connection:

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Cook keeps RBC connection

By Kevin Mitchell - Vernon Morning Star

Published: November 06, 2010 11:00 AM

First thing Brad Cook did when he entered the Wesbild Centre last Saturday was look way up. There it was, in the rafters, a banner honouring the Vernon Vipers as 1996 Royal Bank Cup champions.

Cook, now an assistant coach with the BCHL Victoria Grizzlies, was a smooth-skating defenceman with Rob Bremner's Snakes that season. He had played the year before with the major junior Detroit Jr. Red Wings, and was one of several imports from back east.

He keeps in close touch with Jeff Cheeseman, captain of the '96 team, which included the likes of Dustin Whitecotton, Brent Dodginghorse, Blaine McCauley and Garth Gartner. He hangs out with Sjon Wynia from that team as Wynia has kids the same age as Cook, living in nearby Nanaimo.

"I'm really proud of what we accomplished," said Cook, 35, after the Grizzlies stunned the Vipers in double overtime. "That's something you hang your hat on for a long time. As a coach, to pass on to the guys what a special time a championship run can be and then to actually win it, and you got the ring and you got the tattoo and you got the banner and you got the pictures, the memories. It's something you'll never forget.

"You're a champion forever and how many people can say that? Not many. And to do it in a sport that I'm still involved in is pretty special."

Cook played more than 500 games in a 12-year minor pro career and after coaching the junior B Saanich Braves, joined the Grizzlies this year. He also coaches at the Spectrum High School Hockey Academy.

His No. 1 fan is his wife, Brandy Pearson, who he met during his year in Vernon.

"I had been here for maybe one week and she was the first person I met out and about and she just moved here to work up at Silver Star for the winter, from Victoria, and we've been together ever since. She travelled around with me for 10 years as a pro and we made Victoria our home and things are going really good."

Cook is a hockey survivor. He had a brief stint over in Germany, but spent most of his time blocking shots and making thrilling rushes for teams like the Dayton Ice Bandits, San Angelo Outlaws, Tulsa Oilers, Elmira Jackals, Kalamazoo Wings and Victoria Salmon Kings.

He went the extra mile to play a game he truly loved, making very little money but loving every minute of his life.

"Hockey's been very good to me and hopefully, it'll be good to me for a long time to come. I'm really enjoying the coaching part of it and once my kids start to grow up here, I would like to eventually stick here with the Grizzlies for a lot of years and hopefully one year move up."

One look at the Vipers' alumni list and you see a number of graduates who have gone into coaching or management as a career.

Troy Mick was an assistant with that '96 team, and he went on to be a head coach in the BCHL and WHL. Now, he's part of the Pursuit of Excellence program in Kelowna.

Cheeseman, a dynamite scorer who was named Most Outstanding Forward in the '96 Cup tournament in Melfort, Sask., went on to be an assistant coach with the University of Alabama Frozen Tide.

Cheesie made headlines during the 2003-04 season with the Alabama Slammers of the now-defunct World Hockey Association 2 when he fractured his leg during the first week of camp. Because the league folded that same year, he received no insurance or compensation, and wound up $97,000 in debt.

After the team evicted him from his apartment and he was threatened to be blackballed from hockey if he hired a lawyer, Cheeseman was taken in by a good friend named Valerie Kernan, who worked in the Slammers' front office at the time. They fell in love and later married.

Cheeseman is now director of hockey for the city of Pelham, Ala. – an up-and-coming suburban youth hockey program with 225 players.

Someone (nobody is sure who) once said: “The test of a good coach is that when they leave, others will carry on successfully.”

That has certainly been the case in Vernon. Men like Vern Dye and Odie Lowe set the early standard. Eddie Johnstone, Ernie Gare, George Fargher, Keith Chase, Campbell Blair, Rylan Ferster, Dennis Holland and Mick followed their lead.

More recently, former Viper captain Jason Williamson has been an assistant for the last two national RBC wins, while Luke Pierce (head coach, Merritt Centennials), Brent Kisio (assistant, Calgary Hitmen), Dale Purinton (head coach, Cowichan Valley Capitals) and Sean Matile (goalie coach, Vipers) are in the game.

Johnstone guided the Lakers to back-to-back Centennial Cup victories in 1990-91 and went on to coach in the minors.

Allan Maki of the Toronto Globe and Mail recently did an article on the painful truth about the NHL and its pensions, quoting Johnstone.

Said Johnstone: “You had to play in 30 games in 1986 and have played in 400 NHL games in your career. I had the 400 games and I was called up by Detroit that [1986] season. I played in six games, then they sat me down. I missed it by 24 games.”

Maki wrote that Johnstone was an emergency-room regular during his career. His right knee was torn up, his right shoulder separated and never operated on. He fractured a cheekbone in a collision with a teammate. That put him in a hospital for three days where he developed conjunctivitis in his eye. When the team said it needed him, Johnstone played with one good eye.

Johnstone has suffered two strokes in retirement.

“The specialist said what I had is very common among athletes,” said Johnstone. “Stress and adrenalin, those were the two main factors. I don’t begrudge the players making all this money now. I’d just like to see them do more for the guys who paved their way.”

Goalie Ken Holland worked his way up from scout to GM of the Detroit Red Wings. Dave Oliver of the 1990 Lakers never dreamed of being a GM, but the Colorado Avalanche figured he was management material and named him GM of the AHL Lake Erie Monsters in 2007. Today, Oliver is also known as Director of Player Development with the Avs.

Marty Stein and Craig Demetrick are in the game as part-time NHL scouts, Spencer Ward was an assistant coach with the Western Canadian junior B champion Richmond Sockeyes a few years ago and Tom Williamson from way back helped found the VSS Hockey Academy.