The British Columbia Hockey League’s Vernon Vipers are one of the most storied franchises in Canadian Junior A hockey.
The Vipers have six national Junior A titles to their credit, more then any other Canadian Junior Hockey League franchise in history.
But this spring, the British Columbia Hockey League abruptly left the umbrella of the CJHL and now a national title is no longer possible because the BCHL will not be allowed to compete for the Centennial Cup.
So this season, Vipers head coach Jason McKee is hoping instead to make it to the BCHL championship and win another Fred Page Cup.
“We are excited; we got a good group of returning players,” McKee told Global News.
And despite losing five out of six exhibition games, McKee says he is pleased with how the team is shaping up.
“I think our work ethic is strong, I like the character of our group,” McKee explained.
“We have got good depth up front. There’s a few holes we gotta fill but for the most part our group is pretty solid right now.”
In terms of the style of hockey that Vipers fans can expect to see the snakes play, McKee was frank.
“We will score by committee. We are probably not going to out-skill some teams but we are going try to outwork them,”.
Two of the players in that ‘good group of returning players’ that McKee referred to are JoJo Tanaka-Campbell and Nicholas Kent.
Both veteran Vipers know what it takes to be successful in the BCHL’s extremely tightly-contested Interior Division.
“Obviously, the Interior Division is pretty strong. All the local teams are very good,” Kent said.
“Just sticking to our game, not trying to be something we are not, following through on that, I think we should have good success this year,” Kent added.
“Overall we are slowing getting there,” Tanka-Campbell said about the pre-season.
“The guys are getting to get comfortable with each other. It’s a work in progress still but year we will get there at one point,”
The Vipers head south on Friday, Oct. 8 to take on the Penticton Vees to start the season.
However, Vernon fans will have to wait until Saturday, Oct. 16 for the Vipers home opener in the snake pit at Kal Tire Place.