Future Bulldog Cory Kane Leads Team To Canadian Junior Hockey National Title
Cory Kane (Irvine, Calf.), who will play for the Ferris State University men's ice hockey team in the upcoming 2010-11 season, now has a national championship title under his belt after helping lead the Vernon (British Columbia) Vipers to the Royal Bank Cup (May 1-9) as the Canadian Junior A Hockey National Champions.
Kane, who inked a national letter of intent with the Bulldogs during last November's early-signing period, accounted for the championship game's initial goal with a first period tally in the Vipers' 8-1 victory over the Dauphin (Manitoba) Kings on Sunday (May 9) afternoon at the Credit Union Place in Dauphin, Manitoba. The 6-3, 190-pound forward tallied at the 14:28 mark of the opening period as Vernon accounted for the first four scores of the contest.
With the title game decision, Vernon earned its sixth Royal Bank Cup crown and the second in a row to date. The Vipers, under head coach and general manager Mark Ferner, became the first team in Canadian Junior A history to capture six National Championships and the first since the Vernon Lakers in 1990 and 1991 to win back-to-back championships.
For this season, Kane registered a team sixth-most 65 points with 24 goals and 41 assists in 79 outings. He tallied three power-play and short-handed goals apiece to go along with three game-winning lamplighters. In 19 playoff games, Kane compiled 10 points on a pair of goals and eight helpers.
Among the British Columbia Hockey League's (BCHL) statistical leaders this season, Kane finished 41st in overall scoring and his 55-points total (22-33=55) in 60 regular-season encounters ranked 40th among the league's top points producers.
Vernon posted a first-place 51-6-0 record (105 points) in the BCHL's Interior Conference Division and went 12-6 in its 19 playoff appearances for the 2009-10 campaign.