By / Sam Laskaris
Vaughan Vipers’ officials have plenty of reasons to smile these days.
For starters, the Vipers are gearing up to play host to the Provincial Junior A Hockey League all-star games on Jan. 23.
First up will be a rookie all-star contest featuring the league’s top 16- and 17-year-old players. That will be followed by the league’s main showcase match.
Both games will be held at the Vipers’ home rink, Al Palladini Community Centre.
“We’re very glad and very happy that we were able to put in our bid and have it accepted,” said Vipers’ general manager Al Doria.
The Vaughan franchise is obviously also hoping to be well represented in the all-star affairs.
“With so many good players around in the (35-team) league, we’re hoping to get at least 2-3 of our guys in there,” Doria said.
The Vaughan organization is also rather pleased with how its team has been performing this season.
In mid-December the Vipers had an impressive 27-2-3 record. With its 57 points, Vaughan was just one point behind the 28-2-2 St. Michael’s Buzzers, who were sitting atop the standings in the league’s nine-team South Conference.
Doria admitted he wasn’t exactly expecting the Vipers to have such an excellent start.
“I’m a little bit surprised because we had to bring in a lot of players this year because of what we lost,” said Doria, who was forced to revamp about half his roster.
Vaughan is led by third-year centre Paul Rodrigues, who is the also the frontrunner in the league scoring race. In his first 32 games he had racked up 65 points (23 goals, 42 assists).
Rodrigues’ linemates, Adam Shirley and Matthew Martello, were also earning their share of points. Shirley was tied for fourth among league scorers with 52 points (25 goals, 27 assists) in 32 games while Martello, who had played just 20 games, was also among the Top 25 scorers in the league with 45 points (16 goals, 29 assists).
Vaughan also has one of the top goalies in the league in 20-year-old Michael Iafrate, who was sporting a 20-2-1 record and a 2.71 goals against average.
As for the Vipers’ defence, they were primarily utilizing four rearguards early on this season.
Those receiving plenty of minutes on the blueline were Adam Connor, Adrian Fucile, Martin Lee and Danko Mironovic.
Vaughan bolstered its defence with a pair of acquisitions – Jeff Barbieri and Nick LeBouthiller – in November. Barbieri, a former Viper, was acquired in a trade with the Dixie Beehives while LeBouthiller was picked up in a deal with the Cobourg Cougars. |