The return of competitive youth hockey to Vancouver’s Mountain View Ice Arena concluded with a tournament championship.
The Vancouver Junior Vipers, with players ages 9-12, won a season-ending tournament in March in Klamath Falls, Ore., to complete a 32-game season for the first-year program.
The Junior Vipers went 3-0 at the tournament and finished its season with a record of 11-18-3 against teams from around the Pacific Northwest. In Klamath Falls, the wins were 6-0 over a Portland Junior Hawks team, 2-1 over the Klamath Falls Storm and 3-1 over the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Flyers.
Going forward, the Vancouver Junior Vipers program plans to field teams at various age levels to compete in the Pacific Northwest Amateur Hockey Association.
The 2012-13 team included players from around the Vancouver-Portland metro area. Playing for the Junior Vipers were Addison Phillips, Aiden Surovic, Alex Tribble, Austin Stewart, Brendan Garvin, Caden Yoo, Carsen Taylor, Connor Foppe, Dakota St Denis, Gavin Western, Ian Hofmann, Iris Heuer, Kyle Petz, Logan Bottomley, Logan Chang, Michael Battagin, Randy Yeakley, Sean Miller and Zach Finnegan.
The Vancouver Youth Hockey Association hopes to field three teams for the 2013-14 season. Mountain View Ice Arena manager Bob Knoerl will oversee the under-10 age group. Derek Garvin will coach the team for ages 11-12, and Ralph Yeakley will coach a new team for ages 13-14.
To learn about Vancouver Junior Vipers youth hockey programs, contact Knoerl at 360-896-8700 or icemngr@yahoo.com, or contact Yeakey at 360-521-5120 or ralphyeakley@comcast.net.
