1991 Centennial Cup Recap:

After being swept in the BCHL Fred Page Cup Finals by the Coquitlam Express the Vernon Vipers will be making a record 10th trip to the Centennial Cup-Royal Bank Cup (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2009, 2010, 2011 & now 2014) as the 2014 RBC Cup hosts. This is the second time the City of Vernon will be the host team of the National Championship. In 1990 the Vernon Lakers hosted and won the 1990 Centennial Cup. The Vipers have a chance at becoming the first Junior hockey team in history to win seven National Championships.

Over the next week or two leading up to the 2014 Royal Bank Cup I thought I would take a look back and go through each of the years and give a recap on all of Vernon's previous nine trip's to the National Championship starting with the Vernon Lakers third straight appearence at the 1991 Centennial Cup wich was hosted by the Sudbury Cubs and Sudbury, Ontario.

The Vernon Lakers finished third place in the Interior Division with a record of 37-20-3 good for 77 pts just 4 pts shy of the first place Chilliwack Cheifs.  With just four returning players from the 1990 Centennial Cup winning team the Lakers would advance to their third straight Centennial Cup.  Vernon would finish 2-2 in the round robin before winning back to back Centennial Cups.  Here’s a rundown on how the Lakers did through out the BCJHL’s Playoffs to advance to the teams third straight Centennial Cup.

Interior Division Semifinals: Vernon swept Kelowna 4-0
BCJHL League Finals: Vernon defeated Powell River 4-0
Mowat Cup: Vernon defeated Prince George (PCJHL) 3-0
Abbot Cup: Vernon defeated Yorkton (SJHL) (5-4 OT)

The Centennial Cup 1991 is the Tier II Junior "A" 1991 ice hockey National Championship for the Canadian Junior A Hockey League.

The Centennial Cup was competed for by the winners of the Doyle Cup, Anavet Cup, Central Canadian Championship, the Eastern Canadian Champion and a host city.

The tournament was hosted by the Sudbury Cubs and Sudbury, Ontario.

The Playoffs: Round Robin

Rank Team League Ticket W-L GF GA

1 x-Yorkton Terriers SJHL Anavet Cup 3-1 22 15
2 x-Halifax Jr. Canadians MJAHL Callaghan Cup 2-2 15 14
3 x-Sudbury Cubs NOJHL Host 2-2 16 21
4 x-Vernon Lakers BCJHL Doyle Cup 2-2 14 20
5 Thunder Bay Flyers USHL Dudley Hewitt Cup 1-3 20 17

Note: x- denotes teams who have advanced to the semi-final.

Results

Yorkton Terriers defeated Sudbury Cubs 8-4
Halifax Jr. Canadians defeated Thunder Bay Flyers 5-4
Halifax Jr. Canadians defeated Vernon Lakers 8-3
Thunder Bay Flyers defeated Sudbury Cubs 10-4
Yorkton Terriers defeated Halifax Jr. Canadians 5-2
Vernon Lakers defeated Thunder Bay Flyers 3-2
Vernon Lakers defeated Yorkton Terriers 5-4 in Overtime for the Abbott Cup
Sudbury Cubs defeated Halifax Jr. Canadians 2-0
Yorkton Terriers defeated Thunder Bay Flyers 5-4
Sudbury Cubs defeated Vernon Lakers 6-3

Semifinals:

Vernon Lakers 7
Yorkton Terriers 5

Sudbury Cubs 5
Halifax Jr. Canadians 3

Centennial Cup Final:

Vernon Lakers 8
Sudbury Cubs 4

Awards

Most Valuable Player: Andrew Backen (Thunder Bay Flyers)
Top Scorer: Ryan Reynard (Thunder Bay Flyers)
Most Sportsmanlike Player: George Burton (Sudbury Cubs)

All-Star Team

Forward

Wayne Strachan (Thunder Bay Flyers)
Jason Elders (Vernon Lakers)
Dana Drake (Halifax Jr. Canadians)

Defence

Barry Cummins (Yorkton Terriers)
Andrew Backen (Thunder Bay Flyers)

Goal

Jocelyn Provost (Halifax Jr. Canadians)

Role of League Champions:

AJHL: Calgary Royals
BCHL: Vernon Lakers
CJHL: Hawkesbury Hawks
IJHL: Charlottetown Abbies
MJHL: Winkler Flyers
MVJHL: Halifax Jr. Canadians
NLJHL: St. John's 50's
NOJHL: Sudbury Cubs
PCJHL: Prince George Spruce Kings
QPJHL: Montreal Olympiques
SJHL: Yorkton Terriers

Vernon Lakers Playoff Roster:

Todd Jones
Marcel Aubin
Phil Esposito
Trevor Forsythe
Rob Shypitka
Kris Bjornson
Mike Fischer
Scott Longstaff
Troy Becker
Shawn Potyok
Lorne Kanigan
David Vecchio
Dusty McLellan
Jeff Goren
Corey Spring
Drew Sawtell
Rick Eremenko
Jason Elders
Kevan Rilcof
Murray Caton
Mirko Pellizzari

Owner-GM Mel Lis
Head Coach Ed Johnstone
Assistant Coach Keith Chase

For stats & rosters on Vernon Junior Hockey History, Check out Paul's Vernon Franchise website

http://members.shaw.ca/vernonfranchise/index.html