Q & A With Dr. Wray:

Earlier this BCHL season when the City of Vernon & the Vipers announced they would be making a bid for the 2014 Royal Bank Cup Viper fans were asked to support the RBC Cup bid, most fans signed up to receive a RBC Cup newsletter. I received my newsletter last week and wanted to share a few articles that were posted inside the RBC Cup newsletter. Here is one of them,

April, 27th 2012

John Grisdale , the Commissioner of the BCHL, has supported Vernon’s bid for the 2014 RBC Cup right from the outset. Mr. Grisdale went the college route as a young player, earning a Mechanical Engineering degree at Michigan Tech. He then had a 17-year pro career that included 250 games with the Maple Leafs and Canucks, before using his engineering background and communications skills to become a successful businessman. He became Commissioner in 2003 when the BCHL established its League Office. Under his stewardship the BCHL has entered the digital era, with a comprehensive website and digital audio and video broadcasting of games. He sees the Vernon bid as another step in asserting the BCHL’s place as a premier Jr. “A” league.

“My schedule will restrict my ability to actually attend committee meetings,” says Grisdale, “but I’ll help in any way I can to help the Vernon group win the bid and run a successful RBC Cup.”

Q & A With Dr. Wray

By Don Klepp

Since retiring from his Vernon oral surgery practice and moving to Victoria, Duncan Wray has been just a little restless.

“I’ll have to admit that I miss being around the team every day.  And the rhythm of this season was disrupted when we missed the playoffs. This team is my main passion in life, so I became pretty excited the other day as I prepared to go to Vernon for the spring tryout camp.”  I tracked him down as he watched two teams of prospective players engage in a spirited game.

Q What do you think of the players in this tryout camp?

Dr. Wray. There’s no question that they all can play. I think Larry Black and his scouting staff have done a really good job of unearthing talent. Some of them have previously been here for site visits from as far away as Ontario. They’re keen to become Vipers, partly because of our team’s history and long-term stability.

Q Why are the Vipers running an 80-player camp?

Dr. Wray. It’s really the best size, for the players and for us. Some teams have been running tryout camps with up to 200 players, but it’s too easy for a good player to get lost in the shuffle with so many participants. You can make a lot of money charging camp fees for that many kids, but we think each player deserves a realistic chance of being properly evaluated. Here, each player gets a fair amount of ice team, five games in three days, so each one gets a full evaluation and he goes away knowing where he
stands. Besides, he gets to play with other good players because we carefully selected whom to invite.

Q Are you surprised that so many of the Viper veterans chose to participate?

Dr. Wray. Not at all. Their presence shows how much these players believe in our program and how much they want to be here, even though it’s the off-season.

Q Are all the 2012-13 Viper recruits at this camp?

Dr. Wray. No. A number of them had other commitments. We’ll see them at the fall camp in August.

Q Is there a time line for announcing the committed players for next season?

Dr. Wray. I’ll leave that to our GM, but I understand that Jason will announce our signings as the spring and summer progresses. I can tell you, though, that we’re very excited about the players we’ve signed.

Q Has the possibility of hosting the 2014 RBC Cup helped recruiting?

Dr. Wray. It certainly has not hurt our chances! The chance to host the national tournament is exciting for us and for prospective players. How often do you have a one in five chance of winning the RBC Cup and a 100 percent chance of being watched by dozens of pro and college scouts? Quite a number of our past players have been offered college scholarships when they’ve played well at the Cup.

Q Is this team building toward the 2013-14 season?

Dr. Wray. We’re building for the 2012-13 campaign. We want to win every year. That’s what our fans want; that’s what I expect. If we get to host the 2014 Cup, that would be a bonus.

Q So are you optimistic about the upcoming season?

Dr. Wray. Yes. We have a strong core returning. We could have as many as five returning defencemen, for example, and some very talented veteran forwards. Our returning group will have a fire in the belly after this season’s disappointment. You know, I just hate to lose and I want the vets to convey that attitude to our talented new players.

Next Issue: We’ll continue the conversation with Dr. Wray, who recounts his memories of the five RBC Cup final games in which his Vipers have made Vernon proud.