By: John Humphrey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeshore News Reporter
The LaSalle Vipers are having another banner campaign and have proven themselves to be a force to be reckoned with in the 2024-2025 Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) season.
By mid-December the Vipers had an impressive 20-8 record.
“It’s always great to have a very god record and be high in the standings heading into the Christmas break but we still have a very tough schedule of games before we get there – we have to play Stafford twice, London, Listowel and Komoka and we’re hoping to be able to maintain our pace,” general manager John Nelson told the LaSalle Post during the first week of December. “I know that coach Q (head coach Anthony Iaquinta) still has a lot to teach the guys so I am excited over the position that we are currently in but we have to remain focused.
“I know that it is an old cliche, but we have to take things one day at a time,” he added. “If you take a few games off in a row you can see your team slide down the standings pretty quickly.”
As of December 2024, seven teams were within three points of each other at the top of the GOJHL’s Western Conference standings, with the Vipers sitting alone in second place, just one point behind the St Marys Lincolns.
Nelson had no difficulty in identifying the strength of his squad and the reason it has been playing a such a high level so far in the 2024-2025 season.
“We are a team that does not have any super stars, but I love the direction that we are going with the guys that we do have,” he offered in candid assessment. “I like providing the players with opportunity because we have made a commitment to them.”
One area of the Vipers’ overall game that has been healthy and performing well all season long has been the goaltending tandem of rookie Jake Windbiel and sophomore Dante Bertolin.
“I always tell people that we don’t have a starting goaltender and a backup but we do have a number 1 goaltender and a number 1A goaltender,” explained Nelson. “And we are very fortunate to have them both.”
The 16-year-old Windbiel is a native of Chicago, Illinois and was drafted in the seventh round, 124th overall, of the 2024 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection. He was signed by the Spitfires and assigned to the Vipers in October and dressed for his first OHL game on December 14 when he served as the backup puck stopper for the Spits. He did not see the ice in Windsor’s 3-2 win over the London Knights.
The 18-year-old Bertolin, from Tilsonburg, Ontario, was the Spitfires’ second round pick in the 2023 Under 18 Draft.
And while Nelson had yet to make a trade this season, he wouldn’t rule out making one before the January 10 deadline for rosters. But if he was to make one soon, there would be one very big reason for it.
“We’re always looking to get better and we always have our eyes open regarding possible deals,” he said. “If there is a player out there who can come in and make us better then we will do that, but we don’t make trades just for the sake of making deals.
“And we don’t make later trades either,” he continued. “If we are going to make a move to bring someone in, it has to improve our team.”
The Vipers have been fortunate so far in that the team hasn’t been hit hard by injuries so far in 2024-2025.
“We’ve only had a few injuries so far and when we have, other players have stepped into the lineup and stepped up to take the place of their teammates who have been sidelined,” Nelson offered. “We are a pretty deep team.”
Heading into the holiday break, rookie forward Max Brocklehurst, a Windsor Spitfire prospect, was expected to be out eight to ten weeks with an upper body injury while defenceman Brady Hamlin was still recovering from surgery.
“We are going to receive a big boost to our lineup when they both return,” Nelson said.
The Vipers played their final game before the holiday break on December 21, traveling to Komoka to face the Kings. The Lasalle Vipers opened 2025 on the road, taking on the St. Thomas Stars in their third meeting of the season.
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