It’s one of those chicken or egg conundrums.
To win hockey games, it helps to have talented hockey players. To get talented hockey players, it helps a team to have a winning history. In the case of the Fort Vancouver Vipers it’s more of a goose-egg conundrum.
The junior hockey team for players ages 16-20 plays its first home games of the season at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday against defending Northern Pacific Hockey League champion Bellingham at Mountain View Ice Arena.
The Vipers were winless last season. The previous season the Vipers were 2-38, though many of those games were competitive. Following two road losses to Cheney that opened the 2014-15 season, Fort Vancouver has lost its last 72 games.
“We just need to get the reputation and the perception of the organization positive instead of negative,” coach Jim Dobson said.
Dobson is a big piece of that plan. He scored 104 regular-season goals and 20 playoff goals in two seasons (1977-79) with the Portland Winterhawks and was a member of the Portland team that lost the 1979 WHL championship series to Brandon. His six years playing professional hockey included a dozen games in the National Hockey League.
He coached the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds in 1987-88.
With the Vipers, Dobson is sharing coaching duties with Mike Dickerman, a friend who was a rookie head coach for Fort Vancouver last season. Dobson said it was time to give something back to a sport that gave him so much. A realtor with grown twin daughters, he said he is committed to making the Vipers a competitive team.
“I love it. I’ve got my passion back,” Dobson said prior to Tuesday’s practice. “It’s one of the best things that’s happened for me in the last 10-20 years. I’m pumped.”
Jim “Turk” Hartly, a regional scout for the British Columbia Hockey League champion Coquitlam Express, is serving as an assistant coach.
Vipers general manager Chuck Cheshire said that Hartly’s presence can help Vipers players who demonstrate potential and commitment to move to a higher level of hockey. That, ultimately, is the mission of the Vipers: to give players from Southwest Washington and the Portland metro area a place close to home to develop and perhaps move to higher leagues or college hockey.
Players pay $6,500 a season to play for the Vipers. Players from outside the area pay an additional $300 per month to their host family. The team practices for 75 minutes four days a week with games on most Fridays and Saturdays.
So far, the experience of the added coaches has not improved recruiting. The Vipers dressed 11 skaters and two goalies for their first two games. Against an expansion Cheney team that had played several preseason games and had four lines of forwards, the Vipers twice lost 6-0.
Only two players are back from last season’s team. One is left wing Tristian Swanson. Not yet 17, the Kelso resident has size and experience playing youth hockey in Chicago. He is the team’s captain.
“I believe in Chuck and the guys that they are going to turn things around. I wasn’t just going to give up on this team,” Swanson said. “We’re all trying real hard to go somewhere. We’re going to practice harder, and we can win some games.”
Forward Matt Latshaw, who turned 17 this week, and defenseman Logan Chavez are the Clark County residents on a roster that includes players from Kansas, Colorado and British Columbia.
Joining Cheshire as the club’s directors are Danny and Janet Steinmueller. They guide the business operations for the not-for-profit hockey club. The team’s treasurer, Janet Steinmueller, said more structured front office responsibilities along with the added coaches give the Vipers an improved foundation.
“The boys have to feel comfortable with who their coaches are, with who their front office members are. We just feel that we’re on that road,” she said. “We’ll get that W eventually. I can’t say when. But I feel very positive that we’re moving in the right direction.”
So does Dobson, who said the players are well conditioned and have improved noticeably since the start of training camp.
“My plan and my goal is to get this organization turned in the right direction,” Dobson said. “It’s going to be more of a U-turn, not a V. It’s not going to happen overnight.”
About Fort Vancouver Vipers hockey
What: Developmental team in the lowest tier of USA Hockey for ages 16-20.
League: Northern Pacific Hockey League, 8 teams in Washington and Oregon.
Home games: Mountain View Ice Arena, 14313 S.E. Mill Plain.
Tickets: $6, $4 for students with I.D.
