Congratulations to the Vernon Vipers. They are the 2009 Canadian Junior A Champions. They won the RBC Cup by defeating the defending RBC Cup champion Humboldt Broncos 2-0 in the championship game.
Kellen Jones and RBC MVP Kyle Bigos scored powerplay goals to power the Viper attack.
The insurance marker by Bigos in the 3rd period was a thing of beauty as he danced around a number of sprawled out Broncos en route to slipping it past Mathieu Larochelle to seal the win.
Andrew Hammond stopped all 27 shots he faced for the shutout.
Vernon went a perfect 6-0 at the RBC and finished the playoffs winning their final 11 games overall dating back to their game 6 win over the Powell River Kings to clinch the Fred Page Cup. Vernon went 22-5 overall during the playoffs, and a grand total of 64-19-1-3 if you include the regular season.
The win for Vernon is their 5th Canadian Junior A championship setting a new record. The Vipers previously shared the record with the Prince Albert Raiders for the most Canadian Junior A Championships. Vernon's other 4 National championships came in 1999, 96, 91, 90.
They're the 1st BCHL team to win it all since the Burnaby Express in 2006.
For Humboldt, they were looking to become the first team since the Vernon Lakers of 1990 and 91 to repeat as National Champions, and win their 3rd RBC this decade.
Personal congratulations are in order to former Express defencemen Mike Leidl and Cameron Brodie who were traded to the Vipers at the trading deadline in January. A couple of stud defencemen wrap up their BCHL careers as National Champions.
Brodie will be off to Colgate University on a scholarship for next season.
The Vipers are seen as the model franchise in the BCHL. And this win only further exemplifies that point.
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